Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Whole New World

Stats so far
A day and a half : the amount of time that I've been in Melbourne
A week : how long I should have been here for the amount of new things and info I've picked up
14 hours : amount of jetlag that I'm trying to manage
2 Australian guys : my new roommates (also the only people here that know much about me at all)
UK students : some of my new favourite people here, they're so funny!
40 : amount of countries represented at our exchange student orientation
3 : number of times I've gotten lost (even my good sense of direction can't help me when I don't know the city at all)
3 : number of types of public transit (trains, trams and buses, it's crazy!)

So the expression "separated by a common language" has become incredibly real to me here, it's quite entertaining. Here's come things I've learned
-rubbish : garbage (no one uses garbage here)
-petrol : car gas (if you say gas they assume bodily functions...not so good)
-mate : friend (actually used commonly, definitely need to pick up that one)
-robe : closet (you get really funny looks if you say closet)
-Coles : grocery store (not a book store like it is back home)
-Myki : Melbourne equivalent of Ottawa's presto card transit pass (scan every time you get on and off public transport, also way more expensive than it is back home because of the amount of transport services)
-ARF : Australian Rules Football (follow it, be loyal to your team, and you had better understand how its played...still working on all of those parts - it's nothing like football back home)
-snow skiing : skiing (if you don't put the snow in front they assume water skiing apparently)
-ice hockey : hockey (if you don't put the ice they assume field hockey, or as they call it grass hockey)
-cheers : bye, seeya later, talk to you later (actually spoken and not just used to sign off e-mails)
-how ya goin : what's up (when starting a conversation with it add "hey" in front)

And that is only the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more that I can't even remember right now, I know this list is just going to keep getting longer and longer. It's quite fun to learn all of the expressions though! I definitely need to pick them up and start using them so I can come back to Canada with them. 

For now that's all, not to say I don't have a million things to write (I could probably get a pretty good novel going to recap the past few days) but I can't bear sitting at a computer inside writing today when I could be out exploring! I've got the afternoon off since registration was so fast this morning which means it's time to go buy some of my own sheet and pillows. Kmart here I come...so weird buying this kind of stuff when I have perfectly good sets back in Canada. Then tonight we've got a walking tour of the Melbourne street art (beyond excited for that) and a trip to the casino/arcade complex in the city! So many things to do, the days just don't have enough hours for all the fun and adventures. More to come soon, and I promise I'll get on posting some photos as soon as I find all of my cables!

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