Well, I only have a little bit of time left on the internet (no, we still dont have it at the house yet) so this will be a quick one, which really sucks since I haven't written in a while and have a lot of stories.
We went out Tuesday night for "beer bingo" at one of the bars on campus. It started at 3 pm. Needless to say, we hardly made it to the International Students party at the "bar on the hill, the other bar on campus. That party started at 7:30 and I think we left for home by 8. I don't like being really drunk in places that I'm not completely comfortable with yet. I'm smart. What was even smarter was when we went outside to ask the security guard where the closest McDonalds was (Laura was dying without it) and ended up talking him into driving us there himself, then taking us home. Yay us! we didn't have to pay for the bus or train home that night, which was good considering all my money was spent on drinks already.
Wednesday night is "student"night all over Newcastle, so we decided to head out a little later this time and actually be social. We went to the Bar on the Hill until about 11:30 when the free busses came to drive us into downtown Newcastle. We decided we couldnt wait for a bus and convinced our friends from the night before to make not one but 2 trips downtown so we wouldnt have to ride the bus with everyone else. When we got ot the first club (which we are now members of-- free entry!) Laura had forgotten her ID, and wasn't allowed in. apparently she looks 17. When chrissy tried to go outside to get her in, she got kicked outm, was told she was too drunk and "needed a rest". Needless to say, we all left shortly after that and headed to another bar. We actually had a REALLY good time there and stayed until close to 2am, which is a late night for us old ladies.
Obviously, we took it easy last night, but I am proud to say we actually have friends now! Australia friends! Apparently I invited them over for a little party tonight since every one of our roomates went home this weeekend. Convenient when we had our inspection this morning. That didn't go so well. I'll write about that when I have more time!!
I am almost out of time so I'll write again as soon as I can!!
xoxo
Megan
Friday, February 27, 2009
Monday, February 23, 2009
"O" week commences
If anyone knows me like my parents do you will find this extremely odd... I have been in bed by 9 pm some nights, and I have not stayed up any later than 11 pm except for the night we went to the Pub across the street. I have not slept past 9 am either. Today I was up at 7:30am. It is really weird, and very unlike me, but I like it. I feel grow-up or something. I don't think it will last... but if it does that would be pretty sweet. On the topic of waking up early...
I woke up today and I couldn't open my left eye. I didn't think much of it other than I was just sleepy. When I stepped out of my bed to make sure Chrissy and Laura were up, I fell on my face. When I said I was sunburned I was not kidding. My eye was swollen shut and some parts of my legs were so burnt it hurt to stretch the skin. I am pathetic, to say the very least. I went into Laura's room (who was just a burnt as me) and she said she almost didn't think we could make it to orientation. After calling my mom to make sure it was ok, I popped one of Laura's percocets, 2 St Johns Worts, and I was on my merry way (PLEASE no one let Grandpa Doc read this post--I think he will kill me for this). Again, anyone who knows me knows I do not have the most normal reactions to medications, and since this was my first time ever taking a percocet, I was a little afraid of how I would react (as was my mom and John Crowder). No worries though, I feel GREAT!
We sat through about 1 hour of the orientation lecture and decided it just wasn't worth our time (plus I really don't know how much longer I could have sat there), so we left. Now we are juist killing time until the free lunch at the Bar on the Hill at 1.
On the way to the Student HUB, where the on campus computers are located, we stopped by the on campus travel agent to try and plan some little excursions. There are a few we REALLY want to do, we just need to sit down and actually figure them all out. Most of them are 3 night 3 day cruises on Catamaran's near the Gold Coast and The Great Barrier Reef. They all include meals and sleeping accomodations as well as snorkeling or scuba diving. Depending on which one we end up going on there are other things included as well. Most of them will run us around 470 AUD which is pretty good, considering. There is also a trip to Ularu Rock (UNCLE PAT!!) but it is around 500 AUD and I don't know how keen the other girls are on doing that one. I really want to, but I'm gonna have to really scrape up the money if we end up going on that one as well. There is a cheap trip up to the Gold Coast (Great Barrier Reef Area) for like 191 AUD, and another trip around Carins (which we all agree we HAVE to go to-- thanks to uncle pat) for around 450 AUD. Those are both REALLY do-able when you consider the exchange rate. The prices don't include flights, but we can probably get those for around 49 AUD. I am now taking donations if anyone wants to throw some money my way for all of these once in a lifetime adventures (if anyone wants to show Grandpa Doc this part of the post... you are more than welcome to) JUST KIDDING (kind of).
As you can see, everything is a fair amount cheaper here. For example, we went to the grocery store yesterday and I got a decent amount of food, including a ton of meat, for 60 AUD (about 48 USD). Then I ran over to the liquor store next door because I have been craving wine and haven't had any yet and I picked up a box of wine and a bottle of Penfolds (just for you dad) for 20 AUD (around 12 USD). So far, my money is lasting me.
Since I just wrote yesterday I don't have much else to talk about but hopfully my life gets a little more exciting soon and I will have tons of fun stuff to talk about!
Until next time...
Meg
I woke up today and I couldn't open my left eye. I didn't think much of it other than I was just sleepy. When I stepped out of my bed to make sure Chrissy and Laura were up, I fell on my face. When I said I was sunburned I was not kidding. My eye was swollen shut and some parts of my legs were so burnt it hurt to stretch the skin. I am pathetic, to say the very least. I went into Laura's room (who was just a burnt as me) and she said she almost didn't think we could make it to orientation. After calling my mom to make sure it was ok, I popped one of Laura's percocets, 2 St Johns Worts, and I was on my merry way (PLEASE no one let Grandpa Doc read this post--I think he will kill me for this). Again, anyone who knows me knows I do not have the most normal reactions to medications, and since this was my first time ever taking a percocet, I was a little afraid of how I would react (as was my mom and John Crowder). No worries though, I feel GREAT!
We sat through about 1 hour of the orientation lecture and decided it just wasn't worth our time (plus I really don't know how much longer I could have sat there), so we left. Now we are juist killing time until the free lunch at the Bar on the Hill at 1.
On the way to the Student HUB, where the on campus computers are located, we stopped by the on campus travel agent to try and plan some little excursions. There are a few we REALLY want to do, we just need to sit down and actually figure them all out. Most of them are 3 night 3 day cruises on Catamaran's near the Gold Coast and The Great Barrier Reef. They all include meals and sleeping accomodations as well as snorkeling or scuba diving. Depending on which one we end up going on there are other things included as well. Most of them will run us around 470 AUD which is pretty good, considering. There is also a trip to Ularu Rock (UNCLE PAT!!) but it is around 500 AUD and I don't know how keen the other girls are on doing that one. I really want to, but I'm gonna have to really scrape up the money if we end up going on that one as well. There is a cheap trip up to the Gold Coast (Great Barrier Reef Area) for like 191 AUD, and another trip around Carins (which we all agree we HAVE to go to-- thanks to uncle pat) for around 450 AUD. Those are both REALLY do-able when you consider the exchange rate. The prices don't include flights, but we can probably get those for around 49 AUD. I am now taking donations if anyone wants to throw some money my way for all of these once in a lifetime adventures (if anyone wants to show Grandpa Doc this part of the post... you are more than welcome to) JUST KIDDING (kind of).
As you can see, everything is a fair amount cheaper here. For example, we went to the grocery store yesterday and I got a decent amount of food, including a ton of meat, for 60 AUD (about 48 USD). Then I ran over to the liquor store next door because I have been craving wine and haven't had any yet and I picked up a box of wine and a bottle of Penfolds (just for you dad) for 20 AUD (around 12 USD). So far, my money is lasting me.
Since I just wrote yesterday I don't have much else to talk about but hopfully my life gets a little more exciting soon and I will have tons of fun stuff to talk about!
Until next time...
Meg
Sunday, February 22, 2009
SUNBURN
Well, once again I am on a time limit, so this will not be as long as it should....
The night after we all moved in and got settled (honestly, it feels like we have lived here for weeks not just days) Chrissy, Laura, Caroline and I went out with 2 of our roomates (the 2 who hadnt gone home for the weekend). We went to the pub across the street (where else?) and instantly become "locals". After spending too much time at the "pokies" which are slot machines that are in just about every bar here. Chrissy and Caroline fell in love. I was kinda over them after Vegas. We also had some shots bought for all of us by the bar owner, Micheal- a man as round as he is short. According to Alice, it is not common for guys to buy shots or drinks for girls here, in fact, drinking liquor at all is uncommon at bars. I'm not surprised-- these were legitimately the grossest shots I've ever taken. Anyone who knows me knows just how close I was to throwing up in the middle of the pokie room. After that the night was uneventful except for Laura being a little bit too feminist and SCREAMING at some really rude gross "clown"who wouldnt leave us alone. No worries, Micheal soon told him to leave us the hell alone. Bars here close at midnight with the police storming in every door making sure everyone leaves with0ut a rukus (and because there was a fight about an hour earlier). Thats pretty much it for our first night out in our new neighborhood.
We spent the last 2 days going to the beach, only when we got here yesterday it started to rain. Today however, it was sunny and HOT. I am a color I have never been before I swear. To be fair, we were warned. We laid out for a few too many hours, then Laura and I swam in the "ocean baths" which are possibly the coolest things EVER. The ocean itself has tons of sufers and swimmers, and strong currents, so these are a lot safer way to cool off.
We start O week tomorrow (orientation week) which is apparently a HUGE thing at all Uni's (Universities) in Australia. They have tons of games including beer bingo and other random stuff you would never find on any American University campus. There is even the "bar on the hill" which is our local campus bar. We havent been yet, but it looks like a great place to meet people.
Next Saturday we are going on a boat excursion with the US (it was 20 AUD charged to my tuition-- thanks mom and dad!) and apparently we sit in a net and get dragged by a boat across water until we get to our dolphin outing. We can pet and swim with the dolphins there. It should be pretty freakin awesome. HOPEFULLY out internet at home will be installed by Wednesday so I can start adding pictures here and you can check out how that whole trip goes.
A few random thoughts about Australia...
These are a few things we were told about Australia that I have discovered are in fact NOT true:
There are tampons here
There is makeup here
The toilets do not flush backwards
There is ketchup here
They do not eat completely shitty food- it is actually really similar to America
They do not eat only organic food
It is NOT more expensive to live here
It is not more expensive to do anything here, really. I love it.
There are lots of other things I will remember as time goes on, but it just makes me so mad that we heard so so so many things that were wrong.
Thats all for now! I hate taking so much time between updating this thing because so much happens that I forget about, but hopefully soon I can add stories every day or so.
Until next time :o)
The night after we all moved in and got settled (honestly, it feels like we have lived here for weeks not just days) Chrissy, Laura, Caroline and I went out with 2 of our roomates (the 2 who hadnt gone home for the weekend). We went to the pub across the street (where else?) and instantly become "locals". After spending too much time at the "pokies" which are slot machines that are in just about every bar here. Chrissy and Caroline fell in love. I was kinda over them after Vegas. We also had some shots bought for all of us by the bar owner, Micheal- a man as round as he is short. According to Alice, it is not common for guys to buy shots or drinks for girls here, in fact, drinking liquor at all is uncommon at bars. I'm not surprised-- these were legitimately the grossest shots I've ever taken. Anyone who knows me knows just how close I was to throwing up in the middle of the pokie room. After that the night was uneventful except for Laura being a little bit too feminist and SCREAMING at some really rude gross "clown"who wouldnt leave us alone. No worries, Micheal soon told him to leave us the hell alone. Bars here close at midnight with the police storming in every door making sure everyone leaves with0ut a rukus (and because there was a fight about an hour earlier). Thats pretty much it for our first night out in our new neighborhood.
We spent the last 2 days going to the beach, only when we got here yesterday it started to rain. Today however, it was sunny and HOT. I am a color I have never been before I swear. To be fair, we were warned. We laid out for a few too many hours, then Laura and I swam in the "ocean baths" which are possibly the coolest things EVER. The ocean itself has tons of sufers and swimmers, and strong currents, so these are a lot safer way to cool off.
We start O week tomorrow (orientation week) which is apparently a HUGE thing at all Uni's (Universities) in Australia. They have tons of games including beer bingo and other random stuff you would never find on any American University campus. There is even the "bar on the hill" which is our local campus bar. We havent been yet, but it looks like a great place to meet people.
Next Saturday we are going on a boat excursion with the US (it was 20 AUD charged to my tuition-- thanks mom and dad!) and apparently we sit in a net and get dragged by a boat across water until we get to our dolphin outing. We can pet and swim with the dolphins there. It should be pretty freakin awesome. HOPEFULLY out internet at home will be installed by Wednesday so I can start adding pictures here and you can check out how that whole trip goes.
A few random thoughts about Australia...
These are a few things we were told about Australia that I have discovered are in fact NOT true:
There are tampons here
There is makeup here
The toilets do not flush backwards
There is ketchup here
They do not eat completely shitty food- it is actually really similar to America
They do not eat only organic food
It is NOT more expensive to live here
It is not more expensive to do anything here, really. I love it.
There are lots of other things I will remember as time goes on, but it just makes me so mad that we heard so so so many things that were wrong.
Thats all for now! I hate taking so much time between updating this thing because so much happens that I forget about, but hopefully soon I can add stories every day or so.
Until next time :o)
Friday, February 20, 2009
contact info
oh yea.. and my address is
20 Turton Road
Waratah New South Wales (I dont remember the ZIP)
Australia
and my phone number is:
0406409154. i dont know how to make a call to it from the US, but I have been able to call and text people just fine.
20 Turton Road
Waratah New South Wales (I dont remember the ZIP)
Australia
and my phone number is:
0406409154. i dont know how to make a call to it from the US, but I have been able to call and text people just fine.
Day Two(yesterday)- things are looking up.
Ok. I am on campus using their computers so this might not be as long as I had hoped... heres how we have fared thus far...
Yesterday we got picked up at our horrible hostel by the nicest man in Australia who was showing us 2 houses we were interested in (seriously I owe this man my first born. He not only rented us this awesome house, but drove all 9 pieces of our luggage to it so we didnt have to take it across the city.). We LOVED the first one, but decided to look at the second one just for the sake of comparing them. We ended up choosing the first one anyways. The house is a 9 bedroom house with 6 other girls living in it. It has a HUGE kitchen with 3 fridges, 3 stoves, an oven, a washing machine (no dryer- that will take some adjusting), 4 bathrooms, a huge porch out back, and a driveway out back. It is a 5 minute walk from a HUGE shopping center with a KMart, Subway, Baskin Robbins, Blockbuster, grocery store, and a huge liquor store. It also has a Pub directly across the street. The rent is 150 AUD a week (about 98 US dollars). It includes internet, water, utilities, cleaning supplies, toilet paper.... pretty much everything we could ever need. All we had to buy was linens and out food. I don't know how we managed to get hooked up with such a sweet deal. The girls who live there are all awesome too. We live with Sarah, Emily, Alice, Bri, and 2 other girls whose names i cant remember right now. They are all around age 19 and are really cool girls. I have a ton of pictures but I can't add them onto this computer. We should be getting our internet added sometime early next week so I can add everything else then.
My little "dilemma" yesterday... I lost my wallet. The entire thing. I left it on the train at like 4 pm and didnt realize it until about 10:30. Everything was closed so I had to wait until this morning to call someone, but I finally got through. My wallet was safely at the station in Newcastle, with all my cash and cards inside. Only in Australia. Mom and Dad- aren't you proud??? Second day and I already lost all my shit! Typical.
That's all I really have time for right now, but I promise once I get internet I will update my adventures here. (as for hannah and claire-- dont make fun of me this is for my family, and you read it so youre just as gay as I am.)
I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!
Cheers
Yesterday we got picked up at our horrible hostel by the nicest man in Australia who was showing us 2 houses we were interested in (seriously I owe this man my first born. He not only rented us this awesome house, but drove all 9 pieces of our luggage to it so we didnt have to take it across the city.). We LOVED the first one, but decided to look at the second one just for the sake of comparing them. We ended up choosing the first one anyways. The house is a 9 bedroom house with 6 other girls living in it. It has a HUGE kitchen with 3 fridges, 3 stoves, an oven, a washing machine (no dryer- that will take some adjusting), 4 bathrooms, a huge porch out back, and a driveway out back. It is a 5 minute walk from a HUGE shopping center with a KMart, Subway, Baskin Robbins, Blockbuster, grocery store, and a huge liquor store. It also has a Pub directly across the street. The rent is 150 AUD a week (about 98 US dollars). It includes internet, water, utilities, cleaning supplies, toilet paper.... pretty much everything we could ever need. All we had to buy was linens and out food. I don't know how we managed to get hooked up with such a sweet deal. The girls who live there are all awesome too. We live with Sarah, Emily, Alice, Bri, and 2 other girls whose names i cant remember right now. They are all around age 19 and are really cool girls. I have a ton of pictures but I can't add them onto this computer. We should be getting our internet added sometime early next week so I can add everything else then.
My little "dilemma" yesterday... I lost my wallet. The entire thing. I left it on the train at like 4 pm and didnt realize it until about 10:30. Everything was closed so I had to wait until this morning to call someone, but I finally got through. My wallet was safely at the station in Newcastle, with all my cash and cards inside. Only in Australia. Mom and Dad- aren't you proud??? Second day and I already lost all my shit! Typical.
That's all I really have time for right now, but I promise once I get internet I will update my adventures here. (as for hannah and claire-- dont make fun of me this is for my family, and you read it so youre just as gay as I am.)
I LOVE AND MISS YOU ALL!!!
Cheers
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Greetings from Down Under!!
Well, we made it. Heres what it took to get us here:
-Me going to Dulles, not Reagan for my flight. I changed it for a small fee and flew direct to San Fran.
-Met Chrissy (who had 2 connections on the way) and Laura in San Fran and flew 14 hours over here.
-Got here and took an hour bus ride to the train station, a 3 hour train ride and a LITERAL 1 minute cab ride (luckily he liked us and didnt make us pay for him to turn around on the street) to get to our hostel, BUT HERE WE ARE!!
we are sharing a room with 5 other people, a french guy, 2 german guys, some guy we havent talked to, and a girl from Iowa. To say the least, this is my first and last stay in a hostel. Ever. Once I sucessfully check out of here, I will explain in detail why. We are a little more high maintenance than I realized (to say the least)
We went to campus today and after about 400 phone calls, set up some meetings with people tomorrow and hopefully by tomorrow night we will be in our house (possibly with 6 other girls... and HOPEFULLY a pool... who knows though). Thats basically all we've done here so far besides embarass all of America with our complete idiocy, stumble around a city we really know nothing about, and drag more bags than 3 girls need from one part of the globe to another.
Some first impressions:
1. Chrissy and Laura brought WAY too much stuff. 3 rolling bags+ a carry on? doesnt work well when traveling the way we have. Going up the 2 flights of stairs to our 8 person hostel was by far the highlight of my trip so far!
2. This whole country (so far) reminds me of Europe. That's probably because besides the US, ive only ever been to Europe, but whatever- thats my impression thus far
3. public transportation is actually pretty easy in a country that speaks your language and everything is WAY cheaper then in America (2 bottles of wine and a large pizza for a total of $33- which when you convert is much less than 33 American dollars- for dinner? NOT TOO SHABBY)
4. when you look as innocent (and clueless) as us, most men are willing to carry more than half of your luggage to pretty much wherever youre telling them you have to be. I love it. 2 guys got on our train for free because they were carrying 5 of our bags. sweethearts.
I also got a cell phone. Chrissy got one too, but already lost her codes for it and therefore hers isnt activated yet. Mine was pretty inexpensive and the plan is a good deal. I have $150 dollars to spend on it by March 20. Each incoming or outgoing text is 25 cents. Phone calls within AUS are 48 cents a minute, but callsoverseas are 3 dollars a minute. Really, not too bad. Once the money runs out- i cant go over i just add more minutes. I wont piut my number on here because I dont wanna pay for annoying texts from random people but message me if you want it and just maybe youll be lucky enough to get it :o)
Hopefully we move into the house tomorrow night-- I'll keep you updated!!
Meg
-Me going to Dulles, not Reagan for my flight. I changed it for a small fee and flew direct to San Fran.
-Met Chrissy (who had 2 connections on the way) and Laura in San Fran and flew 14 hours over here.
-Got here and took an hour bus ride to the train station, a 3 hour train ride and a LITERAL 1 minute cab ride (luckily he liked us and didnt make us pay for him to turn around on the street) to get to our hostel, BUT HERE WE ARE!!
we are sharing a room with 5 other people, a french guy, 2 german guys, some guy we havent talked to, and a girl from Iowa. To say the least, this is my first and last stay in a hostel. Ever. Once I sucessfully check out of here, I will explain in detail why. We are a little more high maintenance than I realized (to say the least)
We went to campus today and after about 400 phone calls, set up some meetings with people tomorrow and hopefully by tomorrow night we will be in our house (possibly with 6 other girls... and HOPEFULLY a pool... who knows though). Thats basically all we've done here so far besides embarass all of America with our complete idiocy, stumble around a city we really know nothing about, and drag more bags than 3 girls need from one part of the globe to another.
Some first impressions:
1. Chrissy and Laura brought WAY too much stuff. 3 rolling bags+ a carry on? doesnt work well when traveling the way we have. Going up the 2 flights of stairs to our 8 person hostel was by far the highlight of my trip so far!
2. This whole country (so far) reminds me of Europe. That's probably because besides the US, ive only ever been to Europe, but whatever- thats my impression thus far
3. public transportation is actually pretty easy in a country that speaks your language and everything is WAY cheaper then in America (2 bottles of wine and a large pizza for a total of $33- which when you convert is much less than 33 American dollars- for dinner? NOT TOO SHABBY)
4. when you look as innocent (and clueless) as us, most men are willing to carry more than half of your luggage to pretty much wherever youre telling them you have to be. I love it. 2 guys got on our train for free because they were carrying 5 of our bags. sweethearts.
I also got a cell phone. Chrissy got one too, but already lost her codes for it and therefore hers isnt activated yet. Mine was pretty inexpensive and the plan is a good deal. I have $150 dollars to spend on it by March 20. Each incoming or outgoing text is 25 cents. Phone calls within AUS are 48 cents a minute, but callsoverseas are 3 dollars a minute. Really, not too bad. Once the money runs out- i cant go over i just add more minutes. I wont piut my number on here because I dont wanna pay for annoying texts from random people but message me if you want it and just maybe youll be lucky enough to get it :o)
Hopefully we move into the house tomorrow night-- I'll keep you updated!!
Meg
Monday, February 16, 2009
My First attempt at being DUCK Jr.
Hello world!! So I've decided to start writing a blog, because apparently just seeing everything I do on facebook just wasnt enough for some of my family. :o) As probably everyone who is reading this knows, I am leaving for Australia for 4 1/2 months tomorrow afternoon. My mom REFUSES to get facebook, so I'm kind of doing this for her. This way anyone who wants to can check out what I'm doing down under (although fair warning: I can't promise my life is gonna be too wild so most of you might stop reading after a few days). Thats all I have to say for now (plus... I still havent packed yet- oops)
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