The land down unda!

I'm sitting on my flat's porch right now.

It is gorgeous out--77°F and breezy--and extremely quiet. The view is nice enough. I'm sure I'm going to spend a lot of time out here this semester, even though I don't have wireless. [I HAVE to find out what this warbler/crow-looking like bird is. It sounds like a very upset cat. I laugh out loud every time I hear it.]

I got into Perth at 1:30PM local time (12:30AM EST). The last leg of my flight was only 3.5 hours, which was really nice considering my first flight (Logan to LAX) was 6.67 hours and my flight over the Pacific (LAX to Melbourne) was a whopping 15 hours! Fortunately for the 15 hours flight I slept at least 6 hours, probably closer to 8. I got window seats all 3 of my flights! Word!

My flights to Melbourne and Perth were on the Australian airline Qantas and boy are they awesome. Not only are they super friendly (in comparison to American Airlines) as Australians are stereotyped to be, but they gave us awesome food. I hate to admit I ate meat TWICE on my two lunches, but I did--chicken both times and both times they were excellent. I decided to give in and eat it (because there was no vegetarian option) because I was very hungry and there wasn't much food altogether. Additionally, I felt I should eat all I could given I was traveling for 36+ hours!

My first meal on my flight to Melbourne (the 15 hour one) was penne something with chicken. THE COOL PART WAS I SERVED BEER. Haha, the flight attendant (charming young man) didn't even ask how old I was (I'm 20, but could look younger than 18) and was really enthusiastic about trying the Australian beer that was available (but I forget what I had--it was decent though). I was probably only 40 minutes outside of the States drinking "legally." Awesome.

Because it was a super long international flight, I had my own entertainment thing on the back of the chair in front of me. I first watched "Zombieland" (which was pretty funny and a fun film to watch; however, it was extremely gruesome at some points) and then "(500) Days of Summer" (which I loved and didn't love) and finally "Public Enemies" (which lost me but I enjoyed it for the most part). The best part of this flight was being sat next to by the BIGGEST HIPSTER OF ALL TIME. I gawked when I saw him sitting next to me. This kid was in the dictionary underneath the term hipster. So awesome.

I had to wait a long ass time in line to get through customs, then get my bags, then go through another line--all in all it took me about 2 hours to do. I was able to go to the ATM to get some cash moneys out (gosh their currency is gorgeous!) and get some noms before my final flight.

I was met at the airport by this older gentlemen who drove me home and met Paul (our program coordinator--awesome guy) at the airport while waiting for my luggage. (I'm writing this pretty poorly I'm seeing and it really irritates me. I'm blaming it on being "jetlagged," which I'm not.) Australia so far reminds me a lot of SoCal. It's so gorgeous.

It's forecasted to be even cooler tomorrow, which means I'll try to get out and about and explore. I might try to go food shopping tomorrow, and I really should because I only have a wee bit of food here as it is. I *think* I know where to go, but we'll see. I really don't want to get lost.

My flat is quite cute (but not one of the new ones).

There are 4 rooms but only 2 of the 3 additional mates are here so far. They're both women and I need to get on learning their names. The first one I met I couldn't hear because the change in air pressure on three descents on the airplane killed my ears (very painful!). Four hours later and my ears almost feel all better. My room is small but definitely liveable. If I get some coat hangers and few other things I should be all set. My bed is... alright. I can probably live with it. I need to get some more pillows though (I use four at home :-\).

I totally forgot it was summer down here and as such the sun is still shining at quarter of seven. Awesome.
Today: 7