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