Campus Tour, Phone, Ease, and Pubs on Campus
Well, I’m pretty exhausted, but I felt the call to write. SO here it goes….
Checked my facebook at about 8 this morning and saw that my Chicago friend Ryan had messaged me, saying something about orientation or a campus tour at 1030 he was goin to, and said i should come. I tried to go back to bed but couldnt, took a shower and cut myself shaving, then spent the next half hour trying to stop the bleeding…UGH. I made it down to campus, and because I didnt have a cell phone, couldnt contact Ryan, so I just kinda thought I would see if I could find the tour by chance. I asked a few questions about where the tour would be departing from, found out that it was actually at 11, and found my way to the meeting place. I found Ryan, and just as we arrived, the tour was leaving. We jumped in and joined the tour; it was us, another couple from Moscow, and a woman from Canada. We were led by these awesome Aussies, Harry and Ashleigh. They answered a bunch of our questions and just took us around the campus, it was absolutely beautiful. I took some video of it, thats below, but it frustrated me that the splendor of the campus really didnt come through.
We had a bbq with them and other international students (actually, just other Americans…a foursome from Marquette, a woman from Jersey and a chill dude from Boston). We became tight with our tour leaders and actually decided that we would all go clubbing in the near future, which should be fun!
After that I headed to the mall to get a phone. Had a great schnitzel sandwich! The way they do cell phones here is really cool. You buy a phone (mine was $59), then buy a SIM card (mine was $29 for $150 worth of calls and txts). So, for less than $90 (AUSTRALIAN dollars, remember!) I had a phone and was set!!! I guess they’re starting to convert to the American system of calling plans because the phone companies make more money that way…
I love it here. Not to scare anyone, but I could see myself living here. They are maybe 5-10 years behind American in the annoying trends, such as commercialization, but ahead 5-10 years in ways like sustainability (very little water used in flushing toilets, natural gas on buses, switches next to outlets to turn them off and on). Well, my favorite mall is crazily commercial, so I guess that kills my theory, but it just seems BETTER here. Maybe that’s just cause its new. Maybe its the Vitamin D. But I can’t get over one fact, one feeling, an idea, that I’ve had; that living just seems easier here. Hard to explain it, but there it is.
Also skyped some friends and family today! It was awesome to see the parents, lemmetelluUUU! Great to see the Lundquists, Greigs and Devon and Blake as well! For those who don’t know, Skype is a FREE online calling service, where if you have a mic or webcam, or both, you can talk to or watch, or both, the person you are trying to reach. It’s freakin awesome. If you don’t have it already, download it and sign up, it literally takes no longer than 5 minutes, and I don’t misuse literally! My skype name is peter.st.george . Add me as a contact and we’ll be talking soon!!!
Oh, and a special shout-out from down under to my mother’s fellow social workers and my dads co-workers and gamma knife patients. If people who barely know me find this interesting, then I am happy!!!
A few random observations~
–theres a bar above the food court on campus. Drinking age here is 18. Guess if you have an hour between classes its enough time for a Foster’s, eh?
–there were these two-foot high birds that looked somewhat like blue herons with foot-long curved beaks (not as beautiful) walking around campus randomly. Apparently they are pests…i thought they were quite cool!
–theres a dentist on campus, as well as a travel agent in case one desires to travel inside Australia, a bank, and a tiny mini-mall type thing.
