Look both ways before crossing the street!

One of the first things I remember my parents telling me. Or at least one of the first things that stuck. It’s intrinsic. An instinct. Look left. Look right. Not anymore Alex. The cars here drive on the other side of the street so I am training myself to look right and then left. They also have a lot of roundabouts and aren’t keen on yielding for pedestrians. It is also custom to walk on the left side of the sidewalk, aisle, hall etc.… I’m currently the awkward girl who bumps into everyone in public places right now. Hopefully I adapt quickly. And quicker than I’ve been adapting to the time change; which hasn’t happened yet. Still running on 4ish hours of sleep per night. 

So enough rambling about driving, let me tell you about some of the more interesting things I’ve been up to since my last entry. So I left Sydney and flew to Brisbane. Hiccup #1 of this trip: sitting in the Qantas lounge at the Sydney airport with an hour or so before my flight, Mom read reviews for the motel I was planning on staying at in Southport for a few nights before settling into an apartment. Well, the reviews weren’t great and her motherly instincts kicked in. Wasn’t it a bit of a ride before we figure out what to do. In the end, I switched reservations to an apartment style hotel (for the same price per night I may add). Well THANK YOU MOM!!! King size bed, full kitchen, Wi-Fi access, balcony, pool, TV. It was really nice. So I settled in, got some groceries and made my first meal as an Australian resident: chicken stir-fry.

The next day I was reunited after nine months with my dear friend and fellow x grad Emma (my first x ring siting in Aus.). Emma is attending Law school in Australia and is conveniently an hour bus ride away. Bless her soul she trekked around Southport with me trying to figure out how to use the bus system (side note: although I know Metro Transit is currently on strike, I already prefer the system at home than here) and made a stop at the first apartment.

Family neighbourhood, lots of dogs being walked, 15 minute walk from campus (as close as you can get without being on campus which is currently under going a lot of construction which = noise) and surrounded by palm trees. The landlady shows up. Emma describes her at the 50-year-old version of me. Bright flowery, pink outfit, over the top personality, friendly, funny and such a gem.  She showed us what would be my room first. It’s huge! Beautiful bay windows, double bed, love seat, desk, dresser, and closet. There’s a bathroom with separate toilet (convenient), kitchen and pantry and two fridges inside and one outside on the patio that can be used for drinks. There’s also a garage for storage and some random stuff to pick through for your room.

House #1

Currently there are two locals living in the house, two girls from Nepal, and one other girl who isn’t here yet whose nationality I can’t remember. Coming from a very “white” high school and a more diverse, but not too diverse St.FX, this is a very new experience for me.  

Emma and I asked all the typical questions: what’s included? How many roommates? Neighbourhood safety? Doors and windows lock? Blah blah blah. Everything is included (water, electricity, internet, cable, and local calling), it’s so close to campus, there’s a house keeper who comes every other week to clean the common areas and it was priced better than I thought I would get. Almost too good to be true. We thanked her for the tour and I told the landlady I would get back to her.

Apartment number two. Well didn’t we walk right past the dingy motel I was supposed to stay in to get to this place? We show up to a house that is poorly kept, grungy, the neighbourhood I would not go near at night, or probably ever again. So we didn’t even go through with the appointment. Apartment number one it was!!! Hiccup #2 I have a huge blister on my left foot from walking in the heat so much.

I called the next morning and was given the room. I still had a whole day and night to kill in the apartment hotel so I decided to live it up. I attempted to sleep in (not so successful), showered, and headed straight for the pool. My first sunning down under. I love the sun. I LOVE the sun. It is so hot here too. Everyone keeps asking me if I’m thawing out since it’s so cold back home now. I think I have fully thawed out now. I can’t even keep chocolate outside of the fridge without it melting.

My poolside set up

Emma came back that night and spent the night with me while we split our first (and certainly not our last) bottle of Shiraz. Bless Emma’s soul again; she came with me to move in this morning. We were greeted by my two Nepalese roommates and three of their friends making traditional dumplings. I got a huge welcome from all of them and an even bigger plate of dumplings. WOW!! SO GOOD!! I am going to like it here. Emma couldn’t stay long because she had to get back to school for a function, but I swear I owe her my first born at this point. She will never know how much I appreciated her time with me over the past three days.

So now, I am sitting in bed after having spent the day organizing my room. I still have to get some sticky tack to put up photos, and I have one more suitcase coming with my friends father on Sunday that will need to be unpacked (it’s currently holding my nail polish), but it’s starting to feel like home. I have such lovely friends and family that I had almost 15 hidden sticky note love notes left for me that I have decorated my shelves with them. I have my goodbye card from work, and a couple congrats cards from when I got accepted in the summer. I got a little homesick at one point, but one of my new roommates came in and gave me a big hug and a pep talk. 

P.S. Don’t worry; I have left adequate space on my shelf for my nail polish collection. And I’ve realized that it won’t be growing while I’m here. My favourite go to Sally Hansen “Hard as Nails” that sells for $2.99 Canadian a bottle at home sells for $7.20 Canadian a bottle here. Don’t even get me started on $20 mascara!!!

XOXO Alex Nicole

More photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/alexmusial/sets/72157629255968889/ 

Southport harbour