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.