I’ve been in Australia for about 3 days now. Newcastle is absolutely breath taking.
Life in Australia is a bit different than in the States. For starters a lot of the student accommodation buildings on campus don’t have air conditioning and even the ones that do aren’t what this Texan is used to. My first order of business was to buy two fans for my room. Australia is still in summer so it can get pretty warm during the day.
Another thing that I’m getting used to is that they drive on the left side of the street. I’ve had to Uber a few times from the grocery store. Every single time I instinctively walk up to the right side of the car thinking it’s the passenger seat.
I’m also getting used to the fact that they abbreviate EVERYTHING. Brekky is breakfast, avo is avocado, “How yous?” is “How are you?” and etc. My building is called Edwards but they call it Teds. Not sure how they got Teds from that. If you ask me, they should have shortened it to Eds.
They jet lag hasn’t hit me so bad. I tried really hard to power through the first day so I wouldn’t be up all night. Newcastle is 17 hours ahead of Fayetteville. Which isn’t as bad as you may think. It’s like I’m 7 hours behind but in the next day. As I’m writing this it’s about 9 am on Saturday in Australia which is 4 pm on Friday back home.
The past few days I have been exploring Newcastle and getting settled. I went to the beach on Thursday (yes, I did get sunburned) and Blackbutt Wildlife Reserve on Friday. The Kangaroo exhibit was closed so I was pretty disappointed.
Today, I’m heading back to the beach and this time I will wear loads more of sunscreen. Monday is international student orientation and the beginning of O-week for all students. Classes don’t start until the 25th so I still have some time to explore and get settled.
I’m still getting used to the swing of things down here. It’s like everything is the same but a little different at the same time. (Also grieving the fact that I don’t have my Keurig here. I am caffeine deprived) I’m having fun. I’m excited to travel more and meet new people during O-week and classes. What an absolutely incredible opportunity I have been given. See you guys on the next one.
Junior Donna Quedens is spending the spring 2019 term in Australia through our U of A Exchange program at the University of Newcastle.
Read more from Donna at https://lifedownunder.blog/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
