Attack of the massive, disgusting spider.

How ya goin?!

If you have spent any amount of time with me, you have probably heard me say "I almost died," followed by some crazy (and usually hyperbolic) story at least a couple of times. I realize that in looking back at my earlier blog posts I think I have yet to include this in any of my stories, until now...

Earlier tonight Jenny, Sarah, Sharlene and I all met up in Jenny's room to watch an episode of True Blood (stereotypical vampire story, only more addicting than most); when it ended our conversation meandered from topic to topic until finally when we were talking about the nasty red back spider that Sharlene saw last night near the vending machines on the first floor. Red back spiders are one of the (many) poisonous things that live in Australia and they are similar to Black Widows (nasty, nasty, nasty). As Sarah and I were walking back to the main part of St Cats where we live we were talking about how awful it would be to find a spider in our rooms and I was thinking about how happy I am to be living on the second floor, where spiders are LESS likely to be. It's like karma. I was thinking about how fabulously lucky I am...and then BAM. Tonight it's kind of cold, we have a bit of a cold spell (rain and all) moving through right now, so I figured I would turn on my heater until I was ready to go to bed. I have one of those old-school-oil-radiator-on-wheels heater deals and I was pulling it out away from the wall when this GIGANTIC and toally disgusting spider darted out from underneath it. I almost died. Naturally, I screamed (loudly). I jumped up on my bed when it ran TOWARDS me (I kid you not, the spider charged me. I fully do not believe that fluff about them being more afraid of me than I am of it) before leaping from my bed, out the door and into the hallway where I proceeded to sprint towards Den's room (still half-screaming). Den is from the outback and she lives on a legit farm, she's a total rugged country girl, I figured she would be able to kill it for me. At this point I realize that I have now left the massive (and potentially poisonous) spider unattended, it easily could have found a new hiding place where it would have laid in wait for me to fall asleep so it could come out and bite me. I thought I was going to have a panic attack! I really hate spiders. A lot. Anyway, it turned out to be something nasty called a Hunstman, which is similar to a nasty Wolf spider, and Den half picked it up, half carried it in tupperware to the balcony door where she released it...instead of killing it... I'm pretty sure the thing can get back in and refind it's way to my room. Ugh. So nasty.

Prior to the vicious spider attack that I suffered, I had a really good night. Right now we are doing something hall Hall Games which are based off of the Harry Potter books. In the books (and the movies, if you haven't read the books...shame on you) the houses all compete and get points that go towards winning a cup at the end of the year; all of our different hallways are doing the same concept and we get points for things like attendance and participation (since we can't play Quidditch). Tonight was the first event and we did something called Sock Wrestling where the goal is to get your opponent's sock off their foot before they can get your sock. I played, more for the fun of it than to win, and lost. I was really afraid of hurting my opponent with my long nails...and at one point I had her in a choke hold...there's picture evidence of that. If you can't picture sock wrestling in your head (don't worry, I couldn't either when I first heard about it) then you should just look it up on YouTube, it's hilarious and totally worth 2 minutes of your life. It was a lot of fun, if I'm every an RA again I think I'll have to bring it back as a floor activity.

If sock wrestling isn't enough to make your day pretty darn good, there is one thing that surely will! Good food! Which is what we had to eat today (no bugs!). This morning was waffle morning (just like it is every Thursday, which makes getting up and going to 9 am tutorial that much easier) and for dinner we had fish! I know y'all are probably pretty tired of hearing about food, but I seem to be living on a pear, rice, and bread diet, so when there is fish (AND WAFFLES) I get pretty stinking excited. I honestly think I ate waffles until I was almost too full and tired to go to class.

Today I also went and paid for my portion of the camper van rentals, which makes it official! We are going on a road trip (Northern west coast, watch out!). Jeni and I went together since all of the other girls had already been over to pay their shares; while we were sitting at the desk waiting for our agent to finish a different phone call he was dealing with we were looking at a world map. A couple of students at the desk next to us were talking with their agent about their plans to travel to the US and then up to Canada; they asked a lot of slightly ridiculous questions, one of them being if planes flew to Canada from the US east coast. Through listening to their conversation and looking at the map Jeni and I got to poking fun at Canada about how big it is and how incredibly empty it appears on the map...turns out our travel agent is from Canada. Talk about a situation with major potential to be very, very uncomfortable (open mouth, insert foot). Thankfully, he was really cool about it and seemed to have just as much fun harassing us for being Americans. And I got a funny joke out the situation (well, I think it's funny...you might not): How do you spell "Canada?" C-eh-N-eh-D-eh. I don't know about you, but I laughed. Anyway, back to good stuff about our trip! Earlier in the process we were informed that we would need to go to the DMV equivalent and get Aussie driver's licenses, possibly after having to pass a driving test. But! It turns out that my Colorado DL is valid to drive here with too! Woot, woot! Now I just have to learn how to drive manual...on the wrong side of the road, on the wrong side of the car, shifting with the wrong hand. It shouldn't be too hard, right? I think I can do it. We leave in a month and I am so excited about it, we can hardly wait to get going!

Tomorrow I am also planning on going to the SCUBA place and registering to get my Diving license so I can do some diving up north. I am really, really, really excited for it! It seems like a really solid deal, and as a bonus the Dive Master Jeni and I talked to is really cute. I'm kind of sort of hoping he ends up teaching my course, I wouldn't mind spending a couple of weeks with him! We also have big plans for going to the beach again this weekend, the cold front is supposed to be gone and sunny warm weather should be headed our way!

I didn't have any good "Aussie Adventure" stories for you tonight, but hopefully I'll be able to find something more exciting to write about this weekend!

I hope this post finds you happy and well (and not being attacked by massive spiders, that would be ideal). Have a good Thursday afternoon, I'm headed to bed!

Love always.

Slideshow

http://www.slide.com/r/5OoGCRN21z8CUi0RXj1hVtInbUtsYJxP?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original


I tried to load this Slideshow onto my blog page, but I am technically challenged and the task proved to be Lynzi-proof. So, instead of having my slideshow all pretty on the side of my blog, if you want to look at it you need to copy and paste the address above into the little address bar at the top of your browser and hit enter. That should take you to the slideshow website and let you look at my pictures. Yes, yes. I hope it works. Let me know.

Love always.

'Let's Get Physical!'

It amazes me how quickly living in Australia has become normalized! The first two weeks I spent here seemed to move so slowly and were comparable to being on vacation (everything was strange and exotic, and I had no idea what was going on around me), it didn't actually feel like I was here to stay. The next two weeks have gone by in the blink of an eye and I find myself falling into the routine of everyday life in Perth. Despite having gone by seemingly much faster than the first two weeks, the pace of living in Perth is slower than it is everywhere else. It is hard to describe; Perth is still a big city and you can find this vibrant nightlife when you go into the heart of the city, but in all of its small surrounding suburbs all the stores close by 6 and bars and clubs slow down by midnight. And then you have the beach, where life is just perfect but time just moves differently there, I think. You can sit in the sand and stare at the waves for what seems like forever and realize it's really only been half an hour. It's really amazing here, I'm glad I opted to come to WA instead of going to the Sydney. I think the lifestyle suits me better than the jam packed quickly moving lifestyle of the east.

I got sick last week and spent the weekend in bed fighting off a sore throat, migraines, and a nasty (phlegmy) cough. My friends all went out that Friday night and they had a great time at the Red Sea and I was bummed that I just wasn't up for a night out. At 10 pm everyone (and honestly I mean everyone) was in the hallway trying to work out what time they needed to leave to catch the bus or how many taxis needed to be called. The din they were creating as they attempted to work out this seemingly simple situation was impressive, loud enough to wake me up from a cold medicine induced coma. At around 10:30 when they (finally) figured out the transportation plans Jeni woke me up again banging on my door. When I answered it she told me that she was leaving, but one of our other friends was really drunk so they had put her to bed, but she had gotten back up and was currently wandering throughout the college...without pants on. Jeni didn't have time to get her back to bed before the taxis came and asked if I could be bothered to track her down and get her back to bed. I found my friend (we shall refer to her as Lola since I don't know if she wants me blogging her name to the world in this situation) walking through the hallway with a large sweatshirt and no pants on, just like Jeni had said. I asked her what she was doing out of bed and she started mumbling about not being able to find her key or her phone. I attempted to corral her back towards her room and she teetered around still muttering about her phone and how she needed it. I finally got her back to bed, and on my way back to my room I got hit with a grenade and died in the Assassin game. It was kind of a suckfest (no good deed goes unpunished in the world of Assassins), especially since as soon as I died I stared seeing my target everywhere!

During the past month I have managed to figure out the right ratio of butter to Vegemite required to make my morning toast perfectly. The first time I tried Vegemite I choked it down and applauded myself for trying the most Australian thing I could think of, but I didn't really plan on eating it again. Vegemite isn't the most delicious thing in the world. However, the food at St Cats isn't really the greatest, and breakfast is dodgy most mornings (except for waffle/pancake mornings, those are good mornings) so I've gotten into the habit of making myself toast every morning. My breakfast toast gradually expanded to include Vegemite, I don't necessarily remember it happening, and I certainly don't remember when I decided that I actually like the taste of it. But now I eat it daily and I actually kind of look forward to it in the mornings. I plan on buying a jar of it and bringing it back to the States with me. The jars are pretty big and I only use a tiny little bit for a piece of toast, so I figure the jar should last for a very long time. Plus, this way all of you lovely people can try Vegemite too! I guess while I'm on the topic of food, I'll take this opportunity to quickly expand and say that by the time I get back to the States I don't know if I will ever want to eat rice or bread again, since that is all I eat here. Honestly, I think I get white rice and buttered wheat bread for lunch and dinner pretty much every day, except for lunch on Fridays! On Fridays we get Fish and Chips and it is glorious. I think I look forward to Fridays so much partly because I know I'll have at least one delicious meal that day. Kind of sad. Apart from that, I really love St Cats. It's a fantastic place to live!

This was the end of the third week of school and I keep forgetting that I am here to go to school and not to spend all my time hanging out with friends and going to the beach. Really, going to class is the only downside of my entire experience thus far. Thankfully, 3 of my 4 classes are really interesting and I enjoy them (my women's study class makes me feel a little bit crazy and I strongly dislike it, but it's doing a good job of pushing my comfort levels and forcing me to look at life in the US compared to life elsewhere in the world). One of my classes, Introduction to Forensic Science, is absolutely the greatest class that I think I have taken in a university setting. Each lecture is taught by a different guest lecturer from the Perth Police Department or the Forensic Science Department. The lectures each focus on a different aspect of Forensic Science, so far we've looked at Crime Scene Investigation, Fingerprints, Bloodstains, and had a mock crime scene practicum. This past Thursday was Ballistics and Firearm Examination and it was so cool! The officer brought this massive case full of different guns and talked about all kinds of fabulously epic things. I also got to hold a gun in a classroom, which is something that would never happen in the US. It's also just really neat to hear about Law Enforcement in Australia and how it differs from the US approach. For instance, all of the guest lecturers we have had refer to the person of interest or the suspect as a "baddie" which is something I have never heard an officer in the US say; and none of the officers carry off duty weapons with them, which still kind of surprises me since almost all of the deputies I know carry an off duty weapon with them. In general, the officers are more laid back here, but they seem to have very little crime to deal with in Perth, especially in comparison to the US. One of the bigger club and bar scenes is in a part of the city that isn't exactly high class, but it's nothing like wandering around downtown Denver.

Lets see, do I have any good stories for y'all today? I have to think about this, trying to remember all the things that I want to write about is difficult. Something happens, and I think "Oh! This would be a great blog post! I should write about it!" And then I forget, or I run out of time to sit down and do a blog post. I should probably do this blogging deal more often. I can't really think of anything other than the "Let's Get Physical" 80s themed bar party. Each semester all of the colleges have a big inter college party, and this semester's party was Friday at the Paramount Night Club. Originally, I hadn't really planned on going and my group of 6 girls was thinking of going down towards the beach and just looking to see what kind of trouble we could stir up there instead. However, Bec was in charge of selling the Let's Get Physical tickets, and telling Bec "No" is kind of the most impossible thing anyone could try to do, so we ended up with tickets. It was actually a pretty good deal, the ticket was $10 but it covered entry, one glass of champagne, pizza, chicken, and transportation into the city from college row. Friday morning we all realized that after we bought our tickets none of us had anything to wear to the party. Jeni and Megan had class all day Friday which put Jenny, Sarah, Jess and me in charge of going out and finding outfits. We went to K-Mart and were trying to find workout clothes or something that was flashy, gaudy, and screamed 80s; it was a lot harder than any of us had expected since none of us wanted to spend much money on anything. We ended up buying 2 packs of bright socks that could be cut up and made into legwarmers and white shirts. The white shirts ended up being the best part of our outfits when we decided to buy paint and decorate them (I take full ownership of this totally awesome idea. I'm a nerd that way). We cut the shirts up when we got home and splattered them with paint on the front and put each of our hand prints on the back of the shirts. They turned out to be really cute! (Pictures are up on FB). I think the best part of making them was when we sat around and blow dried them and blotted them with paper towels because they weren't drying quickly enough and we had to get ready to go. The best part of the shirts is that the 6 of us are all going on a road trip during the mid-semester break and we'll be able to take them and look dorky on our road trip as well. Plus, now I have this awesome shirt to bring home with these fabulous memories in December.

The party was a lot of fun as well. It was great to meet a bunch of people from the other colleges, especially since St Cats is a women's college and the smallest. I met this group of exchange students from Notre Dame...I wasn't able to leave the conversation without making a couple of "Go Blue" pro-Michigan statements....whoops. Oh! I do have to say that the best part of the night was being able to wear sneakers to a club. Dancing all night is so much more fun (and so much more comfortable) when I get to wear comfy (ha, Sarah) flat soled shoes. If I could have it my way, I would wear sneakers and tennis shoes to the clubs every night.

Yesterday was B-E-A-U-TIFUL and we all went to the beach for the afternoon. I ambitiously took my homework with me, but come on, who does homework at the beach? I ended up playing in the ocean with Kiera for while and then sleeping on the beach for couple of hours. It was honestly the perfect day after staying out all night the night before. A couple of the girls went to get ice cream before we left and I stayed on towel duty, keeping an eye on all our stuff. I quickly passed the task off on to Mary, who was semi-asleep listening to her iPod and went for a walk on the beach. Walking up the coastline is probably the greatest thing I can think of doing, not only is it a good leg workout, but it's just really relaxing to walk and not really have to think about anything at all. I can't wait until the weather gets to be consistently that nice (today it's overcast and threatening to rain again...not very warm and not good beach weather at all). But I guess I shouldn't be complaining, after all, I just spent a winter day tanning at the beach. Gotta love WA! Before it gets any warmer I'm going to have to remember to go out and get some sunscreen though. I've been a lifeguard for forever and a half so I'll probably get skin cancer anyway...but might as well not take chances with the Australian (ozone-less) sunshine.

I would love to continue tellin y'all about my fabulous life in Australia, but I've got to get the not so glamorous things (like laundry and homework) done. Blah.

I guess if you're closely following my experience, then you'll being excited to know that I am planning on signing up for surfing lessons as well as classes to get my SCUBA certification! YAAAAAAY Australia. Also, we have started planning out our road trip! I think we are planning on driving north towards Monkey Mia and Exmouth, but we haven't really worked out that slight detail yet. But I figure as long as we know what direction we're headed before we leave, we should be good (gotta love my GPS!).

Well, I guess that is all for this time. I hope everything is going well for you, I miss you. Until next time, live well!

Love you long time.

Bob the Trolley

"You're gonna miss this.

You're gonna want this back.

You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast.

These are some good times, so take a good look around.

You may not know it now, but you're gonna miss this."

The girl who lived in my room before me contacted me via Facebook today; she was a study abroad student from US as well and she spent first semester living with the same fabulous girls that I live with now. Ever since I arrived at St Cats 2.5 weeks ago I have heard countless stories about her and all of the crazy things she did while she was here, it was really great to finally be able to "meet" her and find out more about the girl I'd been hearing so much about! She gave me the link to the blog that she had kept during her time in Perth and told me that I should feel free to take a look at it, see what she did while she was in my position; the chorus I posted above (Trace Adkins, "You're Gonna Miss This"...it's a really great song if you haven't heard it before. I suggest you check it out) was in one of her posts and I thought it was a really, really fitting quote to put in my blog as well. I've only been here for 2.5 weeks, yet I realize that this is going to be one of the greatest experiences and one of the biggest adventures of my lifetime! It's amazing. Stunning. Phenomenal. Incredible. (Insert your word of choice here). I wake up every morning to the (obnoxious) sound of Kookaburras singing in the tree outside of my window; I run in King's Park, which is HUGE and totally awesome; and I go to the beach morning/day/night to watch the Indian Ocean (and the surfers...). It blows my mind when I actually slow down enought to realize what I'm doing and what I'm experiencing. This is it. (Deep breath!) I am IN Australia!

My tutor (which is similar to an RA), Kim, is a really fabulous person, and she works really hard to create a feeling of family and home in our wing; her latest team bonding experience is to play the game Assassins amongst all the girls in the wing.

If you don't know what Assassins is then we shall divulge quickly so I can clue you in. The "aim is to try and 'kill' your target (therefore gaining their target) whilst avoiding being 'killed' yourself. Your target can be 'killed' in a number of ways using the stickers provided. Stickers can be used only once, so you need to be accurate! Once you have 'killed' your target, your targer then hands you their envelope with their target's name, this becomes your new target. If you are 'killed' then the game is over and you must hand over your target and your remaining stickers to your 'killer.'"

That is the jist of the game. Anyway, a new game started tonight and it is funny to see our usually nosy and lively hallway dead-as-can-be since everyone is hiding in their rooms (which are safe zones). I really have to use the bathroom, but I'm actually afraid to brave the run to the bathroom and back! It's very stressful since I have no idea who has my name! Already in the past few hours since the game has started I've heard running and screaming up and down the hallway as girls are "killed." But I think it should be a lot of fun to play, and if I die, then I guess it'll just be funny to watch the other girls battle it out.

I had a late lecture tonight (6-7:30) and when it ended Jeni and I rode the bus down to Mosman Park to where Jess has an apartment. I had missed dinner because of my lecture so Jeni and I met Jess, Jenny, and Sarah at this sketch/delicious little fish and chips place near the beach so I could grab some food. We had plans to meet up at the beach but I hadn't eaten for 8 hours and I was pretty freaking cranky, so the plans were changed so that I could get food. Those snickers commercials, like the one with Betty White, are dead right, I'm really not myself when I'm hungry. Feeling as though my stomach was going to eat itself was totally worth it though, those fish and chips were beyond good. In fact, it was borderline the best food I have had since I arrived in Perth. Plus it was cheap, which is very uncommon for anything around here. I swear. Everything costs an arm and a leg....especially the Diet Coke. On the topic of Diet Coke, do you know what the worst part is?! Diet Poopsie (Pepsie) is way less expensive than Coke! Normally I would be happy about this because I feel that the price difference highlights the fact that Diet Coke is better; but here it's almost frustrating because I'm not willing to pay less money to buy (the less awesome and delicious) Diet Poopsie so I spend obscene amounts of money on (the more awesome and most delicious) Diet Coke. The first thing I think I'm going to do when I get home is buy one of those massive soda cups at SAMS for like $00.75 and fill it repeatedly with Diet Coke.

Now that I've told you all about what I eat and drink, I figure that I should tell you the interesting stuff...stuff like Bob the Trolley. We were walking from Jess' apartment to the beach (about a 5 minute walk) and we had to pass through this apartment complex's park. In the middle of the pathway, near a bench, was an abandoned and empty shopping trolley (aka shopping cart if you speak American English)...guess who wanted to be pushed in the trolley. If you guessed "Lynzi!" then you get a high five (give yourself a high five), if you didn't guess "Lynzi!" then better luck next time (and you should probably be slightly ashamed for guessing wrong...). I ran over to the trolley and was delighted to find that it had all four wheels and did not appear to belong to anyone. Jeni pushed me up this really big hill, which is funny because Jeni had hip surgery before coming to Perth and probably shouldn't have been pushing me, especially up the hill. At the top was the main highway thing that runs through the suburb and connects it to all of the other suburbs in the Perth area (think of a divided highway...about the size of Hover in Longmont if you need a reference). Between the four other girls (I was still sitting in the trolley) we managed to get Bob across the highway...I'm not gonna lie, I saw my life flash before my eyes a couple of time. We're just lucky that there isn't much traffic on that road at 9 pm. From there each of us took turns riding in the trolley while the others pushed and helped to guide the trolley in a straight-ish line (one of the wheels was broken and it liked to swerve unexpectedly to one side or the other). The greatest part was the really, really steep road that led down towards the ocean. We all took turns riding down the street (we found one without cars parked on the sides) in the cart with either me or Jess running next to it. It was the most fun I have had since getting here. We were laughing and taking pictures and trying to see how many people we could fit in the trolley at one time. It was a blast!! And to make things better, the entire time we played in the street with a shopping trolley named Bob, we could hear and see the ocean. Eventually we finished playing with the trolley (we were worried about the cops showing up) and we left him parked nicely in a park for the next group of crazy people to find and enjoy.

The waves that roll into the beach at 10 at night are amazing. Now I understand why so many surfers go out at night in spite of the danger. The waves were breaking really far out and by the time they reached the shore they were absolutely gigantic! We were hoping to see some surfers as we sat and watched the waves roll in, but it seems as though we were the only ones at the beach tonight. It was really nice. A great ending to our adventure with the trolley.

So I guess I can add one more thing to the list of crazy things I've done in Australia: play with abandoned shopping trolley in the middle of the road. Yup. Sounds good. I have Uni tomorrow and a crazy evening planned with the girls, so I figure I should head to bed. Check back soon for another blog post, I'm getting better and posting more often! I hope you are doing well!

Love always.

Lemons in Australia.

The other day I was sitting in my room when one of the girls in my wing knocked politely and came into my room with 2 lemons and a tea bag. I assumed she was on her way to make herself some tea,had seen my open door on her way and had decided to stop off and have a chat; however, at the end of our conversation as she was headed out of my room she handed me the lone tea bag and the lemons, explaining that the lemon juice could be mixed with warm water and honey to create a remedy for my sore throat. Considering that I seemed to be coming down with the "yuck" that everyone else in St Cats is currently experiencing, I thought it was a great idea and figured I would save the lemons until I was able to track down a mug to make the remedy in. But, as you probably could have guessed, I decided to do something entirely different with them instead. Earlier today while my friend Kiera was in my room she saw the lemons on my desk and wondered why I had lemons and no other food. Me, being the person I am, responded that the lemons are for eating. I proceeded to peel (like an orange) and eat one of the 2 lemons sitting on my desk. I can now say that I have peeled and eaten lemons in Australia. How many people can say that? (My guess is not very many. It's kind of a weird thing to do). It's not really an earth shattering event, but it was very much the highlight of my day. Plus, my room now smells lemony fresh (as opposed to the other, indescribable college smell)!

Tonight instead of having our Formal Hall (which is the formal dinner that I talked about last week) we are having a college wide trivia game. At first I was super excited; I mean, I honestly know so many random, weird facts (like this: the average person swallows 8 spiders while sleeping. Or, there isn't a real word in the English alphabet that rhymes with "month." OR, Lake Superior is the world's largest lake), but I don't know if I know any useful trivia facts. So now I'm worried that I might just look like a total goon! We have to dress in our hall colors, and my hall color is blue. My tutor (similar to an RA) bought blue body paint, so if nothing else at least I will look a Smurf for trivia night!

I went for another run in King's Park earlier today and while I was trying to read the map and figure out where I was in relation to any place on the map that I recognized when this Australian guy stopped at the map too. He smiled and asked which path I was planning on running down, I shrugged and pointed randomly at the first line that looked like a good answer. He gave me this terrified look and with horror (that sounded very convincing) told me NOT to run down that path; that path is known for having drop bears and no one ever runs down that path unless they are crazy. Don't worry--I didn't fall for the drop bear story again (he was cute though, the smart thing to do would have been to play along).

My friend Jess and I went to the Water Sports Center today and we looked into signing up for classes in Windsurfing, abseiling (rappelling in American English--I thought it sounded like a good adventure...), and rowing. I am really excited to get involved around the University and expand my horizons in regards to the type of people I am meeting and spending time with. I am also really looking forward to the warmer weather so I can start spending ALL of my time on the beach! I want to have a killer tan by the time I get home (especially because it would just be great to come home in the middle of winter with a tan...that would make me very happy).

I've also started looking into all of the things I need to see and do while I'm here. I want to go to Monkey Mia where there are wild dolphins that are so tame that they swim right up to humans for food and also to play. I want to go to Margaret River; I hear they have some of the most beautiful beaches in Western Australia. I have to go to an Australian Rules Football game! And I really, really, really have to hold a koala bear. There is so much to do, and I already feel like I'm running out of time to get it all done!...if only I didn't have to go to uni while studying abroad...

Ya know, looking at this post I realize that I've actually been crazy productive today, especially considering today is a Monday. I went to class (2 actually), talked to the people at the Water Sports Center, went for a run, AND I'm about to do my laundry. And to top it all off, I've written another blog post, and this one isn't forever and a half long!

Australian post is kind of expensive (so no guarantees), but if you would like a post card then shoot me your address and I would be happy to try and find one that is perfect for you. I miss you all dearly and I can't wait to hear about what you've been up to when I get home.

Enjoy your Monday!

Love always.

Week 1 in a nutshell!

How ya goin? (Pronounced all slurred together, like howyagoin)

I'm doing well, just got back from the Uni where I had my first day of classes, and since it is Monday afternoon, I have officially been in Perth for a week! And I can tell you, I'm on to something good here! This past week was packed full of meeting great new people, going on touristy explorations and outings, enjoying "late" nights, and learning about life in my new home.

My trek halfway around the world commenced in Washington DC at 10:00 am on Saturday, 25 July and finally concluded in Perth at 12:30 pm Monday, 27 July; all together I spent 25 hours sitting on six different planes, passing through a total of 6 different airports. The flight from LAX to Melbourne was long, but I sat next to this fabulous guy, I had an aisle seat, and I was exhausted from the week so I slept for at least 11 hours of the 14 hour flight; it really could have been much worse (except for the food, that couldn't have been any worse. It was awful). I'd have to say the worst part was my flight from Kansas City to Denver, during which I had the luck to have seat next to the most enormous human being I have ever seen on a plane. Unfortunately for me, I was forced to share my seat with this woman since she needed more space than what her own seat afforded her.

I slept for 12 hours and Tuesday I woke up feeling pretty good. After breckie (breakfast) a couple of the girls were going to head into the city to get their Proof of Age cards, which are just ID cards that verify that you are older than 18. Instead of going over the Uni and doing the "Welcome to Perth" activities of the day I went downtown too. The Proof of Age card is super important because no one will accept a States' DL here which means I had to carry my Passport around with me if I wanted to use my credit card or get into the bars/clubs. Besides, now that I have my Proof of Age, I feel like I acutally belong here! We also went to the beach, which was GORGEOUS, but super cold. Sadly, it's still winter here, so the weather isn't awesome yet. The Aussies have been telling me that it will get warm around late October, and the rainy weather we've been having should be stopping within the next couple of weeks. Personally, I don't really care if it's cold, I have Fridays off and I plan to be at the beach every single Friday for the rest of the semester.

My first night out was Wednesday night when I went to Cap S with girls from the college (St. Cat's) and I had a really great time being in a bar! I felt like I was breaking rules, and the bar tender could tell right away that a few of us were Americans since we had no idea what to order. It was fun, kind of slow, since most of the students were still on holiday; I hear it gets pretty crazy Wednesdays once Uni starts thgouh, so I am really looking forward to this Wednesday night (I have early class Thursday mornings...sunglasses in class might be a necessity). Also, luckily for me, Aussie guys have some strange facination with Americans! They also have an uncanny ability to spot American girls from a mile away.

Everyone asks really bizarre questions, mostly about Obama, what American high school is really like, and if everyone actually drink out of red cups at our parties; and randomly, some guy actually asked me if I was a cheerleader since I'm blonde, and he wanted to know if I only date "dumb football players" like they do in the movies. The stereotypes the rest of the world has about Americans are really funny.

Adding to my glorious collection of blonde moments, I have to admit that I fell for the "drop-bear" ruse aimed at terrifying gullible Americans (you know, people like me). According to the myth, drop bears (nickname for male koala bears) are incredibly territorial and are known to drop from trees onto the head/shoulders unsuspecting humans as they wander through the drop bear's territory. Upon dropping, the bear uses its sharp little claws to attack the face and neck of its unlucky victim. (And you thought koala bears slept 23 hours a day were super cute and cuddly. Silly American, you were wrong)....Yes. I actually believed that story, and I was on the verge of freaking out when I discovered that I was having my leg pulled. Now, all of you sitting at home are probably shaking your heads and thinking, "Thank you Lynzi, for supporting the stereotype of the dumb American;"however, in my defense, I would like to highlight that the boy telling all of this to me was really, really attractive. Had I been paying more attention to the actual words he was saying (as opposed to gawking and listening to his accent) I might have realized sooner that I was making a fool of myself.

Apart from everything else, I have also registered for (and attended my first day of) Uni classes, gone to Fremantle and King's Park, and managed not to die while crossing any street (which is much harder than you would imagine since these crazy Aussies drive on the wrong side of the road). Picking up the Aussie slang/accent gets easier every day, by the time I come home I hope to have mastered talking like a local!

I've spent an enormous amount of time working on this blog, and I have to get ready for formal dinner tonight, so I think it's time to wrap it up for the day. There is of course much more that has happened this week, and many more stories to tell, but this seems like an adaquet briefing on my life in Australia thus far. In the upcoming days and weeks my hope is to blog more regularly so that the posts aren't all this long winded, but we'll see. As for now, I miss you all and I am looking forward to seeing all of your lovely faces again soon. Stay well and keep in touch!

Lots of love,

Lynzi

PS: Pictures from my trip are all on FB.