I've followed the Yellow Brick Road and it's led me to Oz. So far I haven't seen any Wizards...? What I have seen though is rain. A lot of rain. So much for that heat wave they were experiencing last week. I’ve also seen a lot of birds, strange birds, loud birds. They have cockatoos flying in the wild here, kind of weird to see them outside of a pet store setting - who would've thunk? They're the noisiest of them all, not sure why anyone would ever want one as a pet...? They are beautiful though, I’ll give them that. Pure white with a yellow mohawk - pretty punk rock if you ask me :P Which you weren't, so I'll move on...
Let’s go back to the beginning...
I arrived in Australia after nearly 24 hours of door-to-door travel. Seems like the trip home from China, only in reverse. I left Toronto Tuesday evening and arrived in Sydney Thursday morning. Wherever Wednesday went, I’ll never know... Thankfully it wasn’t 24 continuous hours, but rather 5 1/2 from Toronto to San Francisco and then another 14 1/2 to Sydney, after a short layover, from there. On the first flight I *finally* finished the book I’ve been reading for the past 2 years (on and off of course - “Son of a Witch” by Gregory Maguire), so in San Fran after much deliberation I decided it might be smart to pick up another book for the last leg of my journey. The bookstore in the International Terminal was on the smallish side so the selection was limited. At first I didn’t see anything worth buying, but I knew the flight was long. I saw “Twilight” on the shelf and at first I ignored it because it seemed like it’d be a silly teen drama. An okay read, but not really all that good. But after browsing the rest of the bookstore and starting to run out of time before my next plane departed, “Twilight” started to seem like the only viable option - I hadn’t heard anything bad about it at any rate, quite the opposite actually. So I picked it up. And that was it. From that point on I didn’t put it down until I was finished. I read all 500 pages (give or take) before I landed in Sydney. Quite a bit before then actually, as I still had a few hours to sleep afterwards. Never in my life can I remember finishing a book so quickly! But it was in all honestly really really good. The story of Bella and Edward just draws you in. Stephan King doesn’t know what he’s talking about! I now know why the world is in love with Edward Cullen. I went by a bookstore today and bought the second book of the saga - “New Moon” . Here’s hoping it won’t disappoint - I doubt it will.
My classes don’t actually start until February 24th and there’s not a whole lot going on around campus until then... There’s an orientation for International Students on the morning of the 16th, but that’s pretty much it. I’m guessing I’ll probably finish all 4 of the “Twilight” books before I have to start class. Sad, but I’d bet money on it ;)
So what have I been up to in the days between “Twilight” and “New Moon”? A good question. The answer is... A whole lot of nothing! Well, not entirely true. I met up with another girl in my program and we went to tour the campus and try to find our classrooms and pick up our Student ID cards. We also found our way to the shopping center that has a grocery store in it and picked up a few essentials. By “a few” I mean enough to kill my arms on the walk back to the University Village. I woke up the following day in a lot of pain. Although that may be attributed to the fact that I had no pillow. Or any blankets for that matter. I ordered a bedding set when I moved in and I finally got it today. It’s a long story, and let’s just say that I’ve been to the Administration Office more times than I would’ve liked since arriving here. The first time was to change units...
The apartment I’m living in now is actually the second building they put me up in. The first one was... a little... bit... on the biohazardous-side of things. I walked up to the apartment/townhouse/villa/whatever and the front door was wide open. All around the front patio were cigarette butts and beer caps. Alright, well it *is* a university dorm after all, students are bound to have parties - no big deal. I’ve been known to enjoy a party or two in my time... So I walk in and the floor is covered in dead grass, I mean literally covered! But again, must’ve just had a party, I’m sure they’ll clean it up later... I go to my room, it’s on the main level, and go inside. It’s fine, it’s clean, it’s unscathed by the previous night’s events. I didn’t want to unpack just yet, but rather scope out the rest of the apartment first - and boy, I’m glad I did! First I went out in to the living room and saw a bunch of garbage laying on the coffee table, whatever, I’m pretty sure it’s a bunch of guys living there, and I have experience with that. Empty EasyMac containers are tolerable. But then I start to look a little closer... The sofa has little white stains all over it - now before your mind goes into the gutter - it wasn’t *that*. What it was, was bird shit. How the hell do you get bird shit all over a sofa? I guess they must’ve taken it outside for their party...? So now I walk into the kitchen. It’s definitely got that “lived-in” feel to it. Nothing like the pictures of the dorm on the website. I open a cupboard just for kicks and am disgusted by what I see. Moldy food everywhere! There’s actually a potato (I *think* it’s a potato at least) that’s attached itself to the shelf because of all the mould! Shuttering, I closed the cupboard door. The countertops (aka: “benches” in Aussie-English) were no better. There were dead bugs everywhere and more bird shit! WTF??? Seriously, how *does* that happen? So that was it, I said “screw this” and went to ask for a change of rooms.
The apartment I’m in now is much much better! And clean. And well, actually, I’m the only one in it so far. The other 4 people haven’t arrived yet. I think one guy may have arrived this afternoon, but the only traces I’ve seen is a luggage tag that must’ve fallen off his bag as he came up the stairs and some beer in the fridge. I’m looking forward to having some people move in, it’s been pretty quiet (read: lonely) living alone the past few days. All I can say is thank goodness I have the internet!
Tomorrow holds another day of nothingness. Don’t get me wrong I’m enjoying my last few days of my “summer holiday”. But I’m eager to start classes - need something to do! Tomorrow night at the Village there’s a New Student Orientation and a BBQ so at least that’s something. A chance to meet some new people and what not. Here’s hoping it stops raining! (No chance of that until Wednesday, but a girl and dream).
Where’s Edward Cullen to stop the rain when you need him? I’m sure he has that power haha.
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