I Have Arrived in the Land "Down Under"

I have arrived safely in the land “down under”! I cannot believe that I am finally here after a 6 hour flight from Miami to LA, and then a 14 hour flight from LA to Brisbane, and then about an hour drive from the airport to my apartment complex. I am living with my friend Autumn while over here, which is nice. We also have another roommate named Tamara, who is originally from New South Wales, Australia.

We have spent the past two days trying to adjust and get settled in. We made it to Woolworths (Woolly’s for short), which is a grocery store. They are all around; I see it as their Publix. We also made it to Kmart, which reminded me of Walmart.

I can’t believe how strong the sun is here. Being from Florida, I am certainly used to the sun and the heat, but it is different here. It isn’t as humid and it almost doesn’t feel as hot because there is such a strong breeze, but the sun is intense. I already feel slightly sun burnt. It is absolutely beautiful here and we have already spent a lot of time just relaxing outside in the beautiful weather. The people that I have met so far have lived up to what I was told to expect – that everyone is very friendly and also very helpful. There are a lot of Australians staying at our apartment complex, but they are all from different areas of Australia. So far we have met one other girl from the states, one girl from Canada, one from Dubai, and mostly everyone else is from somewhere in Australia.

Things that will take some time adjusting to:

• People driving on the left side of the road
• The steering wheel and the person driving on the right side of the car
• Looking to my right first when crossing the street
• Seeing and hearing everything in kilos and degrees Celsius

Aussie lingo that I have picked up on so far:

• Uni – means University/College/School
• Flat or Unit – means apartment
• Flatmate – means roommate
• Holiday – means vacation
• Heaps – means a lot
• Rubbish bin – means trash can or garbage can
• Wardrobe – means closet