Hello from Oz!

When Dorothy proclaimed to Toto, "I don't think we're in Kansas anymore, Toto" she definately wasn't speaking of this Oz.. and I think it's a little hard to get here by tornado.. and I haven't killed any witches - yet. Actually, I have been trying to aclimate to the weather much to my dismay as I was convinced there would be no problems adjusting to 50 degree weather when our winters are usually in the 30s. But low and behold, I'm FREEZING! Among many things Australians are weird about, they are weird about their heating and cooling systems. Luckily, I have such an oddity as a heater in my tiny, institutional shell of a bedroom, which I have used every day that I have been here.

I live in a 6 bedroom "flat" (see photo, mine is the upper right) with 3 guys and 2 other girls. Think MTV's The Real World only no one really talks to one another because we're all foreign and by foreign I mean not Australian. We all kind of slink around the apartment, quietly avoiding much interaction with each other. Titus is from So. Africa and listens to Afrian tribal music that sounds much like "In the Jungle", maybe I should try out my best "aweemaway" for him. Andrea (Awn-dray-ah) is on exchange from Chile and is the only one I've really talked to much. I forgot what is was like living with other people and it's kind of annoying hearing almost everything that goes on in the apartment.

We've been in orientation for a draining 2 days, but I've met a lot of people. The ones I am most astonished by are the Norwegians and Swedes because they sound like Americans when they speak. I met Joakim (Ya-kim). With his natty dreads pushed back by a head band and a tattoo of his idol Bob Marley on his ankle, I was sure he would tell me he was from Seattle or San Francisco, but his response given in perfect American English was Stockhom, Sweden! The concensus from these internationals are that they watch a lot of American TV, thus the near perfect American speech. They also have names like Kristen (from Norway) and Debbie (from Holland). Shouldn't they be Helga or Svetlana?

I am learning very quickly that lecturers and tutors are your teachers and professors rarely teach, but spend most of their time doing research! Classes/ lectures are given in a lecture theatre. The grading scale is also different with an HD (high distinction) as your highest grade and N (not very good) as your lowest grade. You also call your teachers by their first names instead of their last unless otherwise noted. And by today's experience during orientation, it's ok to have your cell phone on and with you during class. Not only were there several student cell phones ringing during the orientation lecture, but the one doing the most ringing, and I mean every 5 or 10 minutes, was the lecturers phone! For god's sake woman, put it on silent or vibrate! Something.. so that the rest of us can concentrate on the importance of the lecture. Call me old fashioned, but when the teacher's phone is going off more than the students' phones, there's a problem.

I'm off tomorrow on the Great Race, a spin off the Amazing Race, but around Perth City. Then there is a Welcome Week party at a bar in a nearby suburb and hopefully I will get a little bit of R & R on Sunday. I'm also looking into taking a diving course and surfing lessons! More on that later.