Greetings From Down Under!

I have had yet another couple of interesting days! Right now its about 7:30 pm on Monday. Ill go back to the 2^nd day in Sydney because that’s where I left off before. We went on a tour of the city… we sat on the top of a tour bus – it was pretty spectacular. This city is so beautiful and clean! Sydney is just so unique. There will be sky scrapers but then a park with a fountain and then these really cool older buildings right next to an art sculpture or something. The hospital is this really old building.. its kind of Victorian. I have pictures of everything and will find a way to put them on so everyone can see… not just people who have facebook.

After the bus tour a group of girls went to the aquarium right next to Darling Harbor. I know that ive been to aquariums before but not in a really long time.. It was so cool! The sea turtles were HUGE, and I got an awesome picture of a shark, it looks like I’m in the water right under it. Even though the huge sea creatures were neat… my favorite part was the turtles. I don’t know why but I guess things like to “do it” haha around me because they were mating! I have a video - everyone there was acting like immature little kids. But it was so funny! Actually it was really cute. They were kissing… like lips to lips and they would put their necks around each other ... you’ll see in the pictures J

Before we went to the aquarium we ate fish and chips at a little restaurant. One of the girls wasn’t feeling well so she took a cab home. When we got back to the hostel we noticed she wasn’t in our room.. but we just thought she was on a different floor with the other girls or on the internet. After the whole group was together I asked how she was but nobody had seen her. So I go to look for her to see if she was on the Internet. The front desk person saw me and said that there was a note for the Wisconsin group saying that she had gone to the hospital.. this English guy Ashley took her – we had met him the night before. The note said that she was ok and she will be back soon. When she got back they said she was really dehydrated. That was kind of a bummer but she’s ok so that’s good!

The last day in Sydney a bunch of people from the group climbed the bridge, from the pictures it looked very cool but it was almost $200 so I opted out. The five of us who didn’t climb went to Bondi beach...If you are an avid watcher of the travel channel it may sound familiar J  This was probably one of the prettiest  places I’ve been so far. The was so white and the water was so clear. The houses along the beach looked like they were out of a movie.. or from Greece or somewhere of the sort. Beautiful!

The next day we were finally on our way to Perth! The plane was supposed to leave around 12:30 pm… but for me and a guy (Pete) I was traveling with it didn’t leave until about 1:30 pm. Yes, some more travel problems haha. Checking in at the airport Pete and I were the last to be still at the counter. The airline person then informed us that we were on standby… long story short (because you all know how I love to tell short stories J) we had to take a plane to Melbourne and then to Perth. Pete and I had a layover for about 2 hours in Melbourne… which is kind of funny because we almost missed our plane there too. We were at the wrong gate haha I know – it sounds really stupid but we got caught up taking to people who were going to Perth too that we didn’t even check the airline. We realized we were supposed to be boarded already then looked at the ticket again. We ran through the airport and good thing our plane was delayed because we got to the gate right as the plane was supposed to be taking off!

The plane ride went well, no medical emergency or anything. I arrived in Perth around 5:30 pm on Friday the 6^th. It was kind of weird at first because everyone else in my group was already here and I didn’t have a phone to contact them. Someone took me to my room then just left. I know they are not my parents but it wasn’t very welcoming when I first got here at all – they weren’t even going to give me my friend’s flat numbers, which is weird because obviously I didn’t know anyone. After I met up with some people it was a lot better. I didn’t have anything the first night… not even linens! I slept on my mattress pad and I had my blanket for a pillow. A lot of people, I guess, used clothes for their pillow. There is a grocery store and Kmart and other stores probably ½ mile down the road, so the next day a bunch of us took a trip there. The stores even let us push shopping carts back to campus, which is quite a sight if you are driving down the road.

It is now Thursday… yes, I know I’m really bad at writing in this already! It is just orientation week and most international students are here. I have all my flatmates. There is Nelson – Singapore, Taraui – Zimbabwe, Carole – Madagascar, Andrew – (I forgot because he just moved in today but some island by Africa). I am pretty lucky because most Americans have at least 2 other Americans in their flat. My friend Hattie is even sharing a room with another person from Eau Claire, which really sucks! Luckily I have my own room. I have been meeting a lot of people and am just getting adjusted here. I just picked my classes today also. I am taking Digital Media, Blak Indigenous Music and Film and Philosophy. I will write again when classes start on Monday. Take Care!

 

Love, Me :) 

 

Address -   Allison Shilling

                Flat No: 71  Room: 5

                Murdoch University Village

                Canningvale  PO Box 1055

                WA 6970

                Australia