Aussie Aussie Aussie , Oy Oy Oy

So glad to finally be in Australia after close to 30 hours of traveling alone. Vancouver to Shan Hai 12 hour flight was good and filled with four entertaining movies. Once I reached Shang Hai I realized the confusion of a poorly planned and poorly marked airport. I got held up at China customs somehow but finally was able to collect my luggage and check it onto my second flight. This flight was filled with turbulence galore and very uncomfortable sitting with no entertainment. 10 hours went by in between dozing and my puking neighbour. The food was enough to throw up but these were the last free meals I would eat so I tried to do my best. The pleasant Australian Customs really had me relieved after my Chinese experience. A dog sniffed my luggage and I was on my way. We managed to find a bus and tram to take us to our hostel which wasn’t far thankfully. 2 pieces of luggage each really makes it hard to manoeuvre. Anyway it’s been 3 days since arrival and I’m already feeling at home...other than the fact of course that we are very homeless L

I’m sure everyone thinks I’m probably living the life doing crazy fun Aussie things…well just to fill you in I am currently in my hostel watching one of my 5 roommates work out in a room full of 4 bunks and a 2x2 area in the middle to intense matrix music while wearing some body brace. Oh and playing solitaire of course. Sound lame? This is because I am so exhausted after looking for places for the last two days. We are adjusting to Melbourne time quite well making use of our days. We’ve looked at 4 different places to live but none of them quite what we are looking for. We’re finding it next to impossible to have something affordable and close to our Uni. Most of our roommates have been living at the hostel for over two months and working because renting in Melbourne is so pricy, kind of un-settling. One of my roommates talks in her sleep and has sex dreams out loud, one grinds her teeth so loud I get shivers and comes in at dawn after partying and the others come and go. Kristina makes the best roommate of course as we are always on the same brain wavelength.

Ok so now that my venting is done, Melbourne is amazing. Very windy which makes it cold but none the less amazing. Interesting architecture and funky looking buildings all round. People are very nice and it daily reminds me of Van (minus the mountains of course).

 Things so far that we’ve noticed is that there is a 7-11 every block and that they don’t cut their sushi so you get the pleasure of eating the roll like a hot dog. Hot dogs on the other hand are replaced with corn dogs L but their pie faces (meat pies) sure do make up for it. We’ve learned not to eat the subway here, surprisingly disappointing. We keep looking the wrong way when we cross the road and me and Kristina had a good laugh trying to find the sun because rises in the north and sets in the south. It’s pretty backward down here and funny trying to get used to. The dollar bills here are cool and the20 cent coins are probably double size of the toonie, pretty bizarre. We’ve also learned not to ask for a washroom as no one knows what that is. Slowly learning our way around.

 Our first night here we met up with some of Kristina’s contiki friends and lucked out because we were invited to an AFL (aussie footy league) game for free! A stadium full of 45,000 people and the weirdest sport ever made for an awesome night. By the time the four quarters of 30minutes passed we were just about asleep. Since then its been all business and no pleasure. We’ve been apartment hunting to get a place before school starts.

Anyway this is just a quick update. More to come once we’re more settled.

Bye yeah!