Wollongong

Right, so now that I'm finally settled somewhere complete with internet connection, I figured I should write again before I forget what I did... as I already can't really remember what I did yesterday lol.

Anyways, picking up where I left off, after everyone got back from the mountains, we went out to a bar right around the corner and went dancing at a place with really good music, but the drinks are super expensive everywhere here. It was fun though, and the next day we got up and went to another meeting for a couple hours, this time mostly about school and some culture differences. Afterward we figured out the bus system and went over to Bondi beach, which was crazy nice. The water was blue and pretty clear, huge waves, and pristine sand without a single shell or piece of seaweed. We walked around the rocks a bit and then headed up looking for some gelato. Except that when we got up to the shops, we found a small mass of photographers taking pictures of these 5 people standing out on the balcony just talking. We had to ask someone who they were taking pictures of and turns out it was Zac Efron, his girlfriend and her friend who are both singers.

That night since it was the last night of the orientation, we had dinner on a big boat while cruising around the Sydney harbor during twilight. It was beautiful out there and the dinner was great (I even got to have beef rather than the salmon everyone else was having, yay! lol)

So the next morning the five of us going to Wollongong got on a bus and once everyone else got dropped off at the airport, there was just us and 2 of the people who helped run the program left on this huge bus. We drove about an hour and got dropped off at our apartment. As we drove up the guy told us "Yep, that's you, top floor, the penthouse." At which point all of us started laughing at his joke until we realized he was serious. Our apartment is on the 8th floor with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and a laundry room. Then there are stairs that go up to the 9th floor with an open kitchen, eating area, and living room. We have two porches and views of the ocean and rugby stadium. It's all fully furnished and basically amazing. The mall and shopping area is 2 blocks away, with the beach 2 blocks in the other direction. All 5 of us are still in disbelief that we actually get to live here for the next 4 months.

Since then, we've been exploring around town and spending time at the beach. The whole area is beautiful and the weather is great. We we took the free bus to campus today to try to figure our way around a little since orientation starts early monday morning. Other than that I haven't been doing too much - I haven't been going out at night with everyone else because I have a stupid cold. So right now I'm sitting in my living room, watching Never Been Kissed on tv, and occasionally looking out over the porch to the beach and watching the stadium get set up for the Dragon's Rugby game tonight.

Tough life, I know.