In the beginning...

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8:04AM, World Tower

I’m writing this as I’m sitting in our little lookout room on the 62nd floor of our hotel room. It’s still foggy out, but there is a faint rainbow in the middle of the scene.

The last few days have been hectic. Monday my flight left at 11:30AM, got in to LAX at 2PM, and I had to wait until 10PM to board my flight to Sydney. My carryon weighs, well, I don’t know the actual number; and I don’t want to know. I had to pack 12 days worth of stuff into it, covering both my orientation now and the pre-semester trip up to the Great Barrier Reef on Sunday. However, it turns out that my entire luggage is in my bedroom right now, so it was completely unnecessary to do that. Thanks, Study Australia.

Anyway, I had the window seat on my flight to LAX. The pilot announced when we were passing the Grand Canyon, and since I had the window seat, I took a gander. It was beautiful! I now want to go there someday and see it close up. There was a real creepy guy sitting next to me, so I didn’t bother taking out my camera for it. Thanks, creepy guy.

My eight-hour wait was spent mostly in the area where I was later to board, except for a few trips to the nearby McDonalds, bathroom, drinking fountain, and payphones. In retrospect, I should have bought the $8 day pass for internet and bummed around online for my wait, but instead I people watched, snoozed, and watched the Dark Knight. Finally, the time came. I was seated between an elderly man and woman , who let me take the aisle. They told me they were coming home to Melbourne after traveling in SW USA for five weeks. They were very interested about my coming to Australia for the first time, and studying here until November. The man reached into his fanny pack and took out a blue silk scarf with the Aussie flag on it, and a little stuffed koala that can clip onto your finger with a green vest with “I Australia” on it. Super cute.

Side note: the sun is coming out now. Our room faces west, apparently.

The old man joked with me about things, and I couldn’t really understand him half of the time. It was a mix of him talking fast in an Australian accent, and him not speaking clearly from age. The flight went as good as a 13-hour flight can go. I guess Australia has a curfew, so we could not land until 6AM, which meant we couldn’t leave the States until 10PM. We didn’t have individual screens for the movies, which bummed me out. There was a big screen up above though, and they showed some okay movies. He’s Just Not That Into You, Monsters vs. Aliens, New In Town, some other I’ve never seen, and then the Mentalist, Top Chef, and some other tv shows about nature and stuff. Needless to say I had time to sleep. Mom and dad, I bought one of those neck pillows. Thanks! I was sitting right next to the kitchen, so it was loud most of the time. But the fact that once we touched down I would be moving nonstop with orientation made me get some rest.

I had to fill out that little card with my information and what I’m bringing into the country. I stupidly marked that I had some mud on my shoes, and my Advil. So after picking up my luggage I was questioned in quarantine. They said I was fine and I was off to meet the Study Australia people. I didn’t see any signs, so I walked to the other area where people were coming out, and met up with Russ. I was the first one, and I apparently missed the guy at my end of the exit. I sat there for 5-10 minutes before the first guy came. His name is Rohit, and he’s going to a Melbourne school. People slowly came, and eventually there were 30 or so of us.

It was chilly, around 60 or so- but rainy. We popped our luggage on a truck, got on the bus to go to the World Tower apartments, where we’re staying until Sunday. We hung out in this conference room going over rules and whatnot. Not all of the rooms were ready yet, seeing as it was only 10 or so. So we had an early lunch of sandwiches. no gluten free accommodations, so I stayed pretty hungry. One of my roommates and I decided to go to the internet café a block away to check emails and talk with people from home. That was a shady place- half of a storefront, door wouldn’t stay closed, and the lady didn’t speak English that well.

Jackie and I decided to go get our cell phones , and a snack to tide us over until dinner. I bought a plan for $30, which includes something like 100 texts, 50 minutes, and 150 minutes with other Vodaphones, plus $30 for random stuff, like whatever I go over on. That lasts me for 2 months. I can ‘recharge’ if I run out of minutes. I went to find some candy, but literally EVERY candy I picked up had wheat in it. I honestly don’t know how that’s possible. They didn’t have a gluten free section, but I think it’s just because this is a little store. I found some chocolate and was satisfied. By the time we got back to the conference room, our hotel room was ready. So we went upstairs to put our purses away before we grabbed our luggage from the basement. That’s when some room switching took place, because they set the rooms up so you would be with any of your roommates that are on this orientation. 2 of mine are, so we took the 3-person room.

The room is amazing. It’s not a hotel at all! Laundry, full kitchen, bathroom and master bath, 2 closets in the master bedroom, bath and shower in the master bath, 2 TV’s, wrap around couch, and one sick view. We face west, and since we’re on the 62nd floor, we can see for miles. There’s a Ferris wheel almost right below us, which looks pretty lit up at night. There are a few museums nearby, and we have a clear view of Darling Harbor. Right in the harbor is the biggest IMAX screen in the world. 16 floors. Transformers 2 is playing there now, and Harry Potter will be soon. I hope to see both.

We had an orientation session at the Radisson, in some meeting room. For about an hour and a half, the guide, Russ, talked about Australia. It’s really neat seeing how knowledgeable he is, and to think that he does this twice every semester and still is this excited about Sydney and Australia is really hopeful. I know I’m going to love it here. I already do!

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Photos

CIMG4309
panorama of our view.