I am having so much fun

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Hey everyone,

Sorry for the lack of contact.

This week was filled with orientation stuff; tours, tutorials, free food, and events. The best orientation things have been meeting all of the new people. It is hard to keep track of everyone b/c you meet fifteen new people all at once. It reminds me a lot of freshmen year when everyone hung out in one big group.

Some of the highlights from the past week:
Pub: made it to the pub one of the first nights here. Great time. It started as five us and turned into around twenty when we were at the bar. A few of us even sang kareokee (Shook me all night long).

Welcome BBQ: UniCentral (where i am staying) put on a bbq for all of the residents. Not much of a story, but it was fun.

Dark Knight: went and saw the new Batman movie. (i realize i can do this anywhere in the world and it is not exclusive to Oz). Incredible movie. Exceeded expectations. And it was fun to point out to my friends back home that i saw it 3 days before they can.

World Cup: There was supposed to be a giant soccer match and everyone would play for their home country. But it rained the entire day and only a few of us showed up. But we had 18 people playing a full length game in the rain and water soaked field. I was easily the worst player out there. The guys playing were all amazing. My team won, thanks mainly to me (and the german guys on the team). I am going to try and join the team here. It was great playing with people who truly love the game. And almost everyone was having fun with it too. If you knocked a guy down, you helped him up and joked about it. No one would yell when you shanked a shot, missed a tackle, or lacked the ability to run for the entire game. All of the german guys said i played amazingly... for an american. But i am still taking the compliment.

Newspaper: I got my picture taken for the newspaper and was interviewed b/c of the World Cup game. But after interviewing me, they decided to go talk to one of the german guys instead. Oh well. Almost famous.

Aquarium: Went to the aquarium with some folks. They had an underwater tunnel with a moving sidewalk. Incredible. easily the best attraction i have ever seen. I got some amazing pictures.

beach: hung out at the beach one day. played soccer on the sand with people. got sand everywhere.

Uni Thursdays: on thursdays the Uni provides free shuttles to and from a bar that also hosts very cheap specials. Trying to get a drink takes almost 20 minutes. There was always a throng of people. But i am a master of sneaking by people and was usually able to get drinks faster than anyone else. Almost got in a fight b.c of it too. If i wasnt holding 4 beers, i am pretty sure the guy would have slugged me (he was american, figures). Btw, trying to walk through a crowded bar is actually easier with 4 beers. If you hold them high enough and yell loudly, people move. It was great.

people: I am meeting so many great people. Right now it seems that most people are hanging out with their fellow countrymen. B/c of soccer, i can hang out with all the german guys. The only problem is, when everyone there is german (except me), they all speak german. So i tend to look a little anti social. I just need to learn german (and several other languages). Aussies are by far the nicest people. You can always tell who is from Oz, b/c they are the ones who will smile and say hi when you walk by. And they love to talk to americans, so its easy to meet them too.

classes start on monday, and i am looking forward to them. I still need to try and find all of my classrooms before classes begin. These buildings are a maze. Its very easy to get lost.

random stuff:
roundabouts everywhere. no one here knows what a michigan left is.

b/c i am from america, a lot of guys think i must know everything about cars. not so much.

cops here are not very nice and really hate americans. (i am not speaking from experience, some of my friends were stopped by a cop earlier).

the sun seems a lot brighter here.

i am having a great time here. hope all is well back in the states.

i will post pictures soon.

thanks much,
malcolm

[e-mail]

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