I'm back! I know you guys were like, "damn, what's missing from my day? I just can't figure out why I have this feeling deep down in my soul that I'm incomplete." Well, you were missing me and my blog of course. So sit back, relax, I'm back with a general discussion on all things random and life down under.
ADVANTAGE: MY READERS
Housing:
I'm currently living in bondi junction, about a 10 min walk from the train station. It's a great location, well it will be once it warms up, and I'm living with a bunch of interesting people. I'm living with 10 other people. Two guys from Australia, one Kiwi (New Zealander), two girls from Chile, two Canadians, an Irishman, a girl from Australia and one girl from Taiwan. It's a great mix and, even though I'm sure I don't need to state the obvious, I'm the only American in the house. A few of them are students and the rest are here working. We're all young adults and, so far, we really enjoy each other's company. It only took me a few days, but I've been renamed, nicknamed if you will. I believe it began because the Kiwi couldn't remember my name and it's a reference to something, but he began calling me Americain. One of the Canadian girls loved it, thought he was saying American in his Kiwi accent, and started calling me America. Hence, my new name is America. Probably the second best nickname I've ever gotten. One of the Chilean girls can barely speak English, but if America has anything to do about it she'll learn it. It takes me about 40 min to get from my door to campus, but most of my commute is via train so it's not bad at all.
ADVANTAGE: DIVERSITY
Weather Update: After a miserable weekend, rain+cold+wind, the weather has finally gotten to t-shirt and jeans level (fingers crossed it stays that way). Most of my housemates know how to surf so hopefully they'll start teaching me soon.
ADVANTAGE: MY MOOD
The Aquarium: WAS AWESOME. I really love animals. I've realized this as a lot of my pictures from the Coastal Walk, the walk from Watson's Bay to Bondi Beach, consisted of colorful birds. I've realized that I really love animals, especially when I don't have to clean up after them. I give it an A- only because they had moved the Dugongs and they wouldn't be back until September. I want more Seacow :(.
ADVANTAGE: SHARKS THAT DON'T EAT ME
Electrical Outlets: Being in a different country, I've gotten to notice differences big and, mostly, small that make or don't make a lot of sense. One of the small differences that made a lot of sense to me are the Australian electrical outlets. Every outlet here has a small switch on it. You can actually switch an outlet off. I know sometimes there are light switches in houses that will turn off the power from outlets, but I'm sure it saves a lot of energy having the switch so easily accessible for every outlet. If we had outlets like that back home, I wouldn't have to unplug and replug everything for winter/spring break. I could just flip the switch.
ADVANTAGE: AUSTRALIA
Restrooms: They call them toilets here. I find that disturbing. It's one of those differences in vernacular that I just don't approve of. I don't think anyone from America would regularly say, I'm going to the toilet or I need to use the toilet. Signs here say toilets instead of restrooms. I don't like it, toilet just sounds dirty to me. Unless you're talking about buying a toilet or fixing one, just say bathroom. El ban~o is also acceptable.
ADVANTAGE: AMERICAN NICETIES
Cheese: There are no cats in Australia, at least none that I've seen. Does this have to do with the fact that the cheese tastes all wrong here and therefore it's not a suitable place for rats to live? Probably not, but I'm sure the rats would agree with me. If I were to run a grocery store, I'd put Australian cheese in the weird tasting food aisle.
ADVANTAGE: AMERICA
Internet: This is my biggest issue with Australia to date. The internet here is awful. Campus Wi-Fi failed, not once, but twice on campus during the first week of school. If that happened more than once at UNC people would riot. I know I would be right there flipping cars and burning dook flags in protest of such awful internet. I've recently learned that they don't have fiber optic cables here and so there are no T level internet connections. To most people, that means nothing, but put simply, it's like switching back to dial-up. In my opinion there are very few things more frustrating than moving from something very technologically advanced back to something much less advanced. Off the very top of my head, I can only name three things more frustrating than having to endure said switch: reading entire chapters of a textbook, reading anything virginia woolf, talking politics and, oh yeah, make this number four, trying to figure out what the hell is going on in LOST.
ADVANTAGE: AMERICA
Kebabs: Pronounced Keh-behb and not Keh-Bob. They are everywhere here in Sydney and they aren't those delicious meat sticks you're so used to thinking about. They're more like shwarma. You can choose between some sort of beef concoction or chicken roasted on a vertical spit which is then sliced and put into a pita. It was very odd the first time I went into a Kebab place and ordered one. It was way better than what I was expecting.There are Kebab stands all over Sydney, it seems every Turkish person here owns a Kebab place, and they're open all night long. I've concluded, solely through observations of course, that the Kebab is the drunk food of Sydney.
ADVANTAGE: AUSTRALIA
The British: Left their mark everywhere here in Australia from their dumb way of driving on the wrong side of the road, to the way they like to misspell words like color. It's been really weird to see a statue of the Queen in the heart of downtown and her face all over the currency. Sometimes I just want to pull an Iraqi citizen and topple it over. 'Merica doesn't bow to monarchy.
ADVANTAGE: COLONIZATION
Recitations: They're called Tutorials here aka toots. Basically, a recitation is a regurgitation of lecture material and involves practicing problems. You even get a chance to ask a question, if you so dare, which is never the case in a lecture hall. However, in Australia, all of the tutorials are run by people who speak English which is in stark contrast to the recitations UNC. Back home, I've never come across material from lecture that's been more difficult than it is trying to understand the TAs who try to teach.
ADVANTAGE: TOOTS, NON-ECON MAJORS
ADVANTAGE: THE SOUTH
