Australia: The First Day

I woke up quite early the first morning in Australia, just as I had been waking up early in Fiji. I guess the time change has really been messing with my body, as I easily pass out by 10 p.m. and sleep like a baby until early the next morning. However, I have been this way since London.

I went on a walk and found Hannah, Courtney and Nicole and I was not expecting the wrath that burst out of them like a firework in the night sky. I literally could not understand what they were saying because they were all screaming to me at once. Once I told them to calm down and speak one at a time, I found out that Courtney found a cockroach in her flat and woke up to one in her mouth, and Hannah found one crawling on her bag. Although they had wanted to move out last night, this was the icing on the cake.

The rest of the morning consisted of the girls sitting at reception with their bags, demanding that they move out. At this point, we were under the impression that our phones were not going to work with the Wi-Fi system and we still had no idea where orientation was located.

Luckily, we met up with another girl who studied through AIFS and did not go to Fiji. She had arrived before us and knew where orientation was. Kara is super sweet, and I told her she reminded me of one of my sorority sisters. Then, to my astonishment, I found out that we were in the same sorority –hooray for sisters! Kara also told us we could us an RA number for our Wi-Fi account, so we did not have to worry about connecting. What a relief.

Hannah, Nicole, Stivia and Courtney all decided to pay the $1,600 to upgrade to the newer, nicer apartments that were the ones flaunted online, which we all thought we would be living in. With the paperwork submitted, we ventured off to orientation.

This orientation was just for the village, so we only learned about the rules and safety information for our flats. Therefore, we were still left with many questions about university life. The rest of the day consisted of finding out random information from different people, such as how to purchase the Transperth Card, which is the public transportation card we can buy at a better student rate, and how to get our student identification cards.

There was a reptile show with a free lunch, which was the first time we had all eaten since the previous day. After lunch, which were small subs, we headed to the library to get our I.D. cards, but not our transit cards, because the desk unfortunately closed at 2 p.m. The best part about going to the library was the free Wi-Fi, which I logged into to tell my family and friends I was alive and surviving.

We had some free time prior to the village tour and trip to the supermarket, so I bought a Wi-Fi plan that is $37 per month with 60 GB  of Wi-Fi per month. Nicole and I walked to the student center, which is basically a bunch of information desks, and asked about trips we saw. Brodie, one of two people in charge of exchange and study abroad students, said not to worry about it and we will find out everything we need over the next two days.

The rest of the night was spent at Cole’s, the grocery store. One thing I regret is not packing literally everything I could have needed. AIFS scared me out of packing things I could buy, but I did not realize sunscreen would be $17 AUD a bottle! I did not purchase much at the store, because I still had no cooking utensils. After the store, Nicole and I visited the Treasure Chest, which is full of hand-me-down items from previous students. I loved shopping there, because all the money is sent to a mental health organization.

All of the girls went out to a club that night, which apparently is a huge thing the village does every Wednesday. Nicole and I turned that down, however, and I was asleep before 10 p.m.