Just getting to SFO (San Francisco International Airport) was interesting. The shuttle driver as I found out later that night was Croatian, and the other guy who I shared the ride with was the international manager for Neiman Marcus! Their newest store is opening up in my home town in March, and he had just finished his business there and was headed home to southern CA. Once I finally got to SFO, (which I've only flown out of once before to go to Costa Rica), my journey really started taking off. I checked two of my bags, which were checked ALL the way to Adelaide, and then made my way to my gate, hoping that I wouldn't be late. Turns out I was rather early because United Airlines overbooked the flight, and therefore caused a massive delay in take off and landing at LAX. I had no idea where was I going in LAX, considering the only time I've been there was when I had to go through customs on the way back from the aforementioned Costa Rica trip. After desperately sprinting through terminals and asking airport staff I finally found the Qantas terminal. The lady swipes my passport and sees that I'm supposed to be going on to Melbourne from here, but informs me that I may not be able to make the flight. Panic and horror just raced through my body. My worst nightmare might now be a reality. Fortunately, after making a few phone calls to the gate, she said that If I hurried I could make the flight, my luggage wouldn't though. Annoyed about the whole situation but slightly relieved, I ran as fast as I could to the Tom Bradley International terminal, then had to fly through security, and run the equivalent of probably 5 or 6 city blocks to get to my gate. Luckily I made it right as they started boarding.
Qantas Airlines is probably by far one of the best Australian airlines for international travel to and from Australia. The seats are big and spacious, with extra room between the side of it and the plane so you can actually lean while falling asleep, two gourmet meals, (dinner and breakfast) as well as constant beverage service, TV in the headrest of the seat in front of you for endless entertainment, (including a camera on the top of the back wing tip so you can see the plane take off, while it's flying, and landing) tv shows, music, movies (I was able to watch the new Tin Tin movie and Cars 2), travel guide information, Australian news and weather, etc. It had it all! The 13 - 14 hours honestly wasn't all that bad, and went by a lot faster than I thought it would. I didn't once listen to the music on my phone or read one of my magazines or my book. Which reminds me, it's weird to think that I actually "lost" a day when travelling because I crossed the international date line, so I lost the 17th, a Friday and arrived on the 18th Saturday. International travel is a funny thing. The company wasn't that bad either. I ended up sitting next to a French girl who was staying in Sydney for a week or so.
After finally landing in Melbourne and navigating my way through customs and the airport itself, which included having to go to baggage services to see where my luggage was (it was still sitting at LAX at this point) as well as having to go through security for the third time (they don't make you take off your shoes though!) I found my gate, the final push on to Adelaide. I was so parched by the time I got there I figured now would be a good time to use some of my Australian currency and purchase a drink. A bottle of water was $5 AU. A bit of a rip off but it was from was an airport vending machine after all. The flight itself was only an hour long, and gave me time to read the latest issue of Rolling Stone and check out the views of Adelaide from the plane. We finally touched down and I could feel the heat, exacerbated by the fact that my mother insisted I bring my olive green parka with the fur lined hood. I made my way down to baggage claim, to see/ be greeted by one of the ISSU members from Flinders University, Marie. I explained I didn't have my luggage, so we went over the baggage services desk to get it dealt with. This was my first taste of Australian culture. Marie definitely took the piss out of me for having the parka, among other things, and so did the woman behind the desk. After sorting out my luggage situation (which included Qantas giving me a prepaid $100 AU Mastercard, a PJ set and a few toiletries) Marie and I went back to the main part of baggage claim and talked about all manner of things Australian, which kick-started my Australian slang dictionary. After talking and waiting a bit the next exchange student finally made their way down the escalator, a guy from Hong Kong named Antonio, then one of the girls from my university came down, Becca, and a bit later a guy from Canada named JC. We made our way to the van, loaded up our luggage, and immediately headed towards a shopping center (what we Americans would call a mall; a mall to Australians is a strip mall to us, outdoor streets/ walkways that cars can't drive on with shops on either side). We went to one of the more popular grocery chains in Australia, Woolsworth, and we all stocked up on groceries. Apparently plastic bags are illegal in Australia, so most grocery stores will make you pay an extra dollar to buy a reusable bag. I then went to Target and put together an outfit so I'd have something more to wear for these next few days instead of just the clothes on my back (including "thongs" flip flops). We then drove the rest of the way to Flinders University, and slowly but surely we all went our separate ways to our new homes for the next 6 months. I'm living in a townhouse, with a living room, kitchen, bathroom and laundry room on the first floor, and three bedrooms and a bathroom on the second floor. My flatmates (Derrick and Leo) have the first and second room, and I have the third. After scoping out my room and getting to know Derrick for a bit (a few years older than me, gay, volunteers at the SES State Emergency Service and training to become a paramedic, and a graphic designer)! He's an all around awesome human being, wise beyond his years and I feel privileged to be living with him. But I digress, five minutes later I met one of his good friends who is now a good friend of mine, Nory (Egyptian/ black Muslim lesbian, studying language and linguistics, gamer nerd, avid guitar player, and can drink like a mofo). Another all around awesome human being/ chicky. This feels like the beginning of a beautiful friendship anyone? Then I met her partner Claire, a half Asian. We then went to this Thai/ Chinese restaurant and ate by this duck pond in the middle of campus. We then went to a drive through liquor store... yes, Australia has DRIVE THROUGH LIQUOR STORES! Join the club America/ Pacific Northwest! Derrick and I each bought a six-pack of Coopers Pale Ale, one of the better local beers for SA. Nory and Claire got two different flavours of cider, one of which just tasted like Red Bull. Meh. :/ We sat around for about two hours outside at a BBQ area right behind Derrick and mine's townhouse just shooting the breeze and drinking. A hint for anyone who hasn't tried Coopers Beer, esp pale ale: Tip the bottle upside down before opening it, as the final sip contains most if not all of the hops and other stuff used to make it, and can be quite bitter. After saying our goodbyes, Derrick and I went back in and both took this dis-solvable tablet called Berroca. Does wonders if you've been drinking a lot. I hardly had much by Australian standards (a good night is 8 or 9 pints of beer, a few mixed drinks or a couple of shots), but I took it anyway. I had a big day ahead of me. That pretty much wrapped up my first taste of Australia.
Now, I realize if you're still reading after this, I haven't even gotten through my first week here yet, known as O Week. Considering I'm playing catch up on this and have been going off memory pretty much the whole time I'll try to keep the next posts short, and they will most likely end up being short for those very reasons.
Day 1 Sunday, Feb 19th: This was the "official" move in day for the university, and the first day of O Week but considering I still didn't have my luggage, and had gotten in the day before I couldn't really do any moving in. My jet lag wasn't too bad surprisingly! From what I remember, I spent most of the day bopping around between my room, the CC (Community Centre) meeting a lot of new people and making small talk, as well as buying a $30 AU O Week shirt (a bit over-priced eh Flinders)? I'd say at about mid-day I ended up running into my friend/ roommate from Uni back in the States, Lincoln, and was glad to finally see a familiar face. We caught up for a bit and then we went our separate ways. Then starting at 6:30 the whole "Village" as our living community is called sat down for a welcome dinner, where I'm sure I met even more people. Almost immediately after we all gathered for a "Dog Tag" party. You would walk up to the front table, and pick up a dog tag, the id necklaces that military wear, and it had a word on it, the idea was to find your "partner" or the missing piece to your word. Mine ended up being mash, as in the pom way of saying "mashed potatoes". After searching for my partner and meeting/ chatting to people for a good 15 - 20 minutes, I found him... it was one of the returning students, Ethan who was working the bar. My reward? A one of a kind O'Week 2012 plastic cup, which I used to pour my 5 Cider, Corona, and later water into. Not to pick favourites, but out of all the people I met that night, one's I remember are this guy name Pierre from Germany, (who ended up being partners with one of the girls from my Uni back in the states, Dani), Lincoln's roommates Roy and Darcy, and three of their friends, Sam, Jason and Bryce. The live band kind of sucked to be honest, but there was still a good amount of people who hit the dance floor. The first of seven nights to get completely smashed down. On a completely unrelated and potentially gross note, I took this picture of the skin on the bottom of my foot:
Looks an awful lot like Australia and Tasmania. Coincidence? I think not...
Day 2 Monday, Feb 20th: Derrick and I went out this morning to go grocery shopping at this place called Westfield in a suburb of Adelaide called Marion. It's mainly known for the shopping centre though. We were originally going to go to this other popular chain of grocery stores in Australia, Coles, but we were a good hour early, or they weren't open, so to kill time we ended up stopping at a petrol (gas) station, where I bought my first ever Australian Iced Coffee, even though I'm not much a coffee drinker:
Looks just like a carton of milk yea? I also bought my first package of these:
More on those later. Derrick then ended up taking me to another suburb called Blackwood, really upscale and super hilly, as well as rural, to show me just how little you have to go to be in the Australian countryside. After that we headed to Marion, parked and went into Westfield. Derrick toured me around before we headed to Woolsworth to do what we originally came here for. Among the items I got, here a few that stand out and are very Australian:
This is a kinder surprise. Milk chocolate egg shell with white chocolate and a surprise toy. Kind of like the Wonderball minus the candy if anybody remembers those.
- Coke with random names on them
We got back home, and around 10 or so all new students living in the village had to attend an information session. Later in the day there was a BBQ, and immediately following that there was a mixer at this local bar on campus called Coopers Bar, where the "Villagers" drinked/ mixed and mingled with the "Hallies" students living in Flinders hall. Definitely spent a good amount of money on alcohol, but all worth it to keep the good times rolling and potentially make new friends yea? Lincoln and the other guy from the Uni, Gage wiped the floor with the Australians at beer pong, and the DJ was doing pretty good music selection wise. There was one song though called Eaglerock that still perplexes me even after asking three different Aussie's why, but requires everyone whenever it's played, to drop their pants/ shorts for the duration of the song. Apparently it's a SA thing, go figure. I also at one point ended up getting on Jason's shoulders and dancing on top of him for one song. All in all a pretty good night.
Day 3 Tuesday, Feb 21st: This was a pretty lax day considering the night before, (let me go on record by saying no one could function if O Week was a daily occurrence). It was also a bit windy which was a nice break from the normal dry heat of Adelaide. Today was the day I also finally got my luggage back! I could finally unpack and wear clothing that fit me! Not much else happened from what I remember, other than that there was a Village fair in the CC from 6 - 10 to promote events/ activities in the near upcoming weeks and a few clubs. I also met one of Nory's good friends named Alexa.
Day 4 Wednesday Feb 22nd: Today was the day we all went to Glenelg, a popular beach destination in Adelaide. Full of shops, bars, restaurants, and local touristy stuff. Staked out a spot to set up, and almost immediately after ran for the ocean to join Lincoln, Gage, Ethan, one of the girls from my Uni named Hannah and a few others in a game, where the person throwing would yell out an amount between 100 - 500 and whoever caught the football would then gain that many points. The idea was to get 500 exactly, so if you caught the ball on a 400 throw, then a 300 you would be knocked back down to 0 and have to start over again. After that dissipated, I decided to actually go into the water, a little cold at first, but nowhere near as cold as CA or Oregon beaches BY FAR! It was quite warm actually. I stayed in for maybe 10 to 15 minutes than got out and chilled for a bit on the beach, soaking up the suns rays without that pesky ozone layer interrupting... sarcasm my peeps. Here's a picture of it:
Day 5 Thursday Feb 23rd: This was another nothing day, except for later in the day when we had a "street party" where everyone in the village would bring a dish they and their flatmates made and share it with everyone else, potluck style. SO MUCH GOOD FOOD! OM NOM NOM NOM! And that's all I really have to say about that day. :D
Day 6 Friday Feb 24th: From what I remember not much happened this day either.
Day 7 Saturday Feb 25th: This day was hot as blazes, at least 100 degrees F! Definitely a beach or stay inside day. I chose the later and went to Glenelg with Pierre and this other German exchange student named Julia. Took the bus there, so it was my first experience with public transit in Adelaide, and it was pretty good, almost on par with Oregon's public transit. Met heaps more exchange students, one from Canada, another one or two from Germany, etc. Definitely got burned/ tanned, and the water was extremely refreshing. At one point a sting ray actually appeared and caused everyone in the water to haul ass towards the shore! Deadly as fuck those things! Anyway, after chilling on the beach for a while, Pierre and Julia and I decided to leave and do some grocery shopping at Coles. Afterwards Pierre and I headed over to a liquor store so he could pick up some beer. 24 cans of Hahns Premium. We then waited for a good 20 minutes for the bus to come pick us up, and headed back to campus. A long haul up quite a few hills to get back to our housing, at which point we said our goodbyes. I took a shower and laid low for the rest of the day. Really hot days make you tired.
Day 8 Sunday Feb 26th: A relax day after the day before, and the heat was quite relentless. I also at some point caught a 24 - 48 hour bug, maybe it was allergies, that kept me from doing much either. I'm still fighting a cough and a sore throat, but I also had a wicked back headache this day as well, possibly from dehydration.
Day 9 Monday Feb 27th: Finally we're in the present! First day of courses for first semester today! The way my schedule is, I don't have any courses on Mondays or Thursdays! Three-day weekends FTW! I spent most of today doing small errands, getting my schedule finalized and exploring campus with my friend Gage, (another friend from uni back in OR) to try and get a better idea of where my courses throughout the week will be. Seeing as how I have a course tomorrow at 9, I should probably turn in for the night. I sincerely apologize for how long this post is, I will do my BEST to keep on top of this, but like they say, shit happens. With that, I wish you goodnight, and goodluck.
P.S. Remember when I said more on the Tim Tams later? Here's a video of me having one and the Kinder Surprise for the first time ever. Enjoy!
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