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Published: February 17th 2006
Hello!
I am in Sydney now and am having an incredible time thanks in large part to my 'Aussie Mate' Char (short for Charmaine) Roberts. I had signed up to be matched with a UNSW student (University of New South Whales) and couldn't have gotten a better match.
Kristen and I arrived in Sydney 10am on the 13th. Before that we were in Cairns for one night and unfortunately it rained the entire time, so nothing exciting to report there.
Originally I had planned to spend a week at a backpacker's hostel until I could find more permanent accomodation. Then, as Kristen and I were in the cab my mobile rang and it was Char, inviting me to stay with her and her family! Kristen was more than welcome to stay a couple of nights before she left for Perth as well. So we re-directed the cab, picked up the bulk of our luggage that we had left in Maroubra, and off we were to the Roberts' residence over the bridge and in Northern Sydney.
Her family has been so amazing and accomodating. Once we dropped of our stuff, Char wanted to take Kristen and I out for lunch, so we drove to a very nice cafe and sat outside looking at the beach. Then it was home for a nice home cooked meal and into bed. The next morning Char drove me to the 'Uni' and dropped me off to start my orientation, while she and Kristen went into the city. There, I met up with Justine, a Phys Eddie from Queen's who Kristen and I happened to run into at Hervey Bay. She introduced me to her friend Nick who she knows from Calgary, and the three of us picked a seat in the lecture theatre.
We heard tons of stuff about Australia, the Uni, different activities we could get involved in etc. Then there was a bbq and Justine met her Aussie Mate, Matt. Some of my good fortune must have rubbed off on Justine, because Matt is Hot and also so friendly!!!
After the bbq we started looking in the housing centre for housing listings. Char went to pick up Kristen in the city and Matt drove Justine and I to look at a place. Unfortunately the place was pretty run down. We also left ton of mssgs for other places, but didn't have that much luck.
Earlier that day Matt revealed that he had nothing to do for Valentine's Day (much to Justine's and mine's delight) and so we invited him to join us and Char and Kristen and Nick for Dinner. So we met him and his friend Sam at a really good Thai place. As it turns out, Char, Matt, and Sam are coming to Queen's for a semester in September!!!!!! So many of you will be able to meet these fantastic people! Dinner was awesome and then it was home to bed.
The next morning I took a train and then a bus to get to Uni and I didn't get lost! That is until I arrived on campus and had to find the lecture theater again. But soon enough I found it. There was more sitting and listening, and then we met our Aussie Mates and Kristen and went for a walk around the Sydney Harbour. We stopped at a few pubs, met another Aussie named Rob who is also going to come to Queen's and his exchage student Travis, who's from Georgia. The same group as the night before, along with Rob and Travis, went out to dinner again at this pub and then it was off to the bars! Char and Kristen went home, as Kristen had an early flight to Perth the next day. So after we said our good byes it was off to a bar called the Aquarium, and from there another called Coogee Beach Hotel. It really was a great night. Both Rob and Travis got pretty drunk and were entertaining. I spent the night with Justine in Coogee. She's staying there with a family friend.
So this brings me to yesterday. Justine and I went to campus to figure out our course schedules and did some more house hunting. We're keeping our fingers crossed, but we found this amazing 3 bedroom apartment which we'd share with Nick, in Coogee. You look down the street and you see Coogee beach and it's about a 25 min walk to campus, plus the bus stop is right at the end of the street as well. We really, really, really want to live at this place!!! It's being rented through a realtor and today's plan is to pick up an application and dress to impress when we meet for the open house showing on Monday, complete with deposit in hand.
Justine and I still can't believe just how lucky we got with our Aussie Mates. It feels so nice to already have some Australian friends! Tonight there's a pub night for us at the campus bar. And then 'O week' starts on Monday for all the frosh and us as well. Apparently on the Thursday of 'O week' there's a massive Back To Session party at the campus bar. When I say massive, I mean massive. Apparently there will be 5 000 people there! The bar is huge!
And then classes start the following monday on the 27th. I'll be taking an Algorithms course, Database Management, Molecular Biology, and a first year course called World History: The Big Picture. I've realized as I've travelled and met people from all over the world, just how little I really know about other countries, especially their location! So hopefully this course will bring me up to snuff.
Well I've got to get going, Char's going to drop me off at the train station and I'm meeting Justine and Nick on campus. Happy Belated Valentine's day to everyone!
Love Becca
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Ian
non-member comment
Wow
Well Becca, this is all becoming just too much for me to handle. I can't believe you went sky diving! You're fully nuts. Biomed sounds like hell (well, let's face it.. it pretty much is) compared to what you're up to. What courses do you get to take this semester? Hope orientation goes smoothly! We still miss you! Cheers, Ian