97 degrees.

Ello loves,

Sooo here I am, been here for a week and I am LOVING it! At first I had some culture shock... maybe it wasn't culture shock. But it was at least homesickness. Now I can say that I am adapting quite well to living here. I love learning new things about Australian life. For instance, the BBQ is a very popular thing. I'm not talking "let's throw some shrimp on the barbie" because no one says that. They just really like to BBQ and give it to people. I've experienced about 3 so far, and we have a Welcome BBQ tonight as well. Another thing I've noticed is that it takes a while to get to places that you want to go. If you don't have a car, you have to rely fully on transportation services. We all got bus passes, called Smartriders that let us ride for cheap since we are students. I feel like I will be riding the bus and the train a lot while I am here. It's very different from Wisconsin where on the weekends people walk at most like 10 blocks to get to the bars. Never will I ever take for granted my walking distance to the bars in Eau Claire. Here it's about a bus and train ride away to get to the best clubs. Takes about 30 minutes at best. But I would say it's worth it.

We went out to Northbridge the other night, which is part of downtown Perth with all the best nightclubs. There are SO SO many! And it's so intense to get into them. Us international students have to show our passports when we go out, and the bouncers have to scan them. At one, I got wanded (very weird!) and they had me stand and take my picture. Then they compared the picture to the picture on my passport. They are very strict here! But since the drinking age is 18 I feel like they would have less people using fake ids to get into clubs.. who knows.

The things I miss most about America... CHEAP STUFF! I will never take for granted our cheap prices ever again. I know that I always think stuff is expensive back in the states, but once I got here.. it's a whole different story. The gym membership is $170 for one semester!! I complained about this to my flatmate and she was like "are you kidding, that's cheap!" No way is that cheap. You can get a membership at Eau Claire for $70 a year. She was shocked when I told her that. Also, cover charges to get into clubs are expensive, when most Aussies don't even bat an eyelash at them. They need to go to America to see what they are missing.

So far, the living's been easyyyy. Pool or beach every day, out every night. I know I've said I could get used to a life like this, but doing nothing all day and partying every night has it's downsides. School starts tomorrow and I'm hoping for a wake up call. I'm actually excited to get back into a normal semester routine. It seems like ages ago when I was in school.. last semester seems like forever ago! I have one lecture and one workshop tomorrow totaling 3 hours. Then I have a break, no classes on Tuesday! We'll see how it goes. So far I've been adjusting to life in Australia, but now comes the time when I adjust to learning in Australia. Here goes nothing!!