Printing, House Stealing, and Cricket

         I woke up around 7 o’clock and called my mom and dad on Skype. Something was wrong with their computer’s camera and I could see them, but they could see me. My mom had gone to Suntrust and they said that my money had gone through, so I checked my ANZ account and it was there! Hallelujah! All I need now is my debit card from ANZ. I talked with my mom and dad for a bit. I then called and confirmed my appointment to see that house I was supposed to see on Monday. After that I went into Kyron’s room and searched for some more places. I really hope the one I see will be the right fit and I can get it! Mandy and the others had been talking about going to see this cricket game at a stadium near us. Josh, an Aussie who studied abroad at USC, told us that we should go because it is the 

last game of the season. Mandy and I didn’t have any way of printing our tickets off. I looked and my debit card from ANZ didn’t come in the mail, so I would have to use my Suntrust debit card. When Mandy and I were going to find a place to print, it started raining, so we postponed it a little bit. I got to watch some of one of my shows! I do kind of miss T.V., but I don’t need to be stuck on that! I need to take in everything around me! I ate the rest of my sub for lunch that I had gotten the day before. We left about an hour later and walked to QUT. We had a tough time even finding the library, but finally we did. The librarian was very nice and showed us how to use everything. It is pretty much like at USC. We found out that there is a $2 charge on all of our QUT cards that you have to pay off before you can put money on to print. The librarian lady didn’t even know what that was until we found out from a man at the printing desk! So sneaky! But, we finally got all of our tickets and printed them off. After that, we had to walk to go see that house. We were cutting it close and I was worried we were going to get there late, but we were actually super early. There was this other girl that walked up and

 she was also looking at the room. She was from the UK and had been in Australia for 7 months. She was looking for a new place though. She was very nice and bubbly, a little too much at times, but that’s okay. When the agent girl got there, she showed us the room and the entire house. It was okay, and I could make it my own, But, that Rosannah girl, the other one looking a the room, was running around everywhere and asking all of these questions about the house and the housemates. I guess I’m a little more subdued and professional than that. We ran into this one guy who was staying there who said he really liked the place. That Rosannah girl was like, “Where can I apply!?!?!?!”. And the girl who showed us the room, who didn’t really know anything about anything, said we could apply online or at their office. Rosannah was like “So if I go to the office, I’ll have a better chance of getting it??!?!?”. The girl said it was basically first come, first serve. Rosannah had a car and was like “I’m going there.” There was no way I could beat her there. Rosannah only wanted to stay there because her boyfriend, from Canada, was staying in a house right behind that one!  I hope they live

happily ever after… Anyways, I tried to call and put a hold on it and I couldn’t, so I went back to the room and filled out an application online for the house. Maybe I could beat her to it and they would give it to me. I guess we’ll find out. I called a couple of other places. One wasn’t available anymore. The other I made an appointment to go see at 2 pm the next day. I really hope it all works out! Kyron hadn’t gotten back from work yet, so Mandy, Emily, and I went to the bus station to go the stadium for the cricket game. Kyron would just meet us there. We all had tickets from different sections, so we had to just pick some seats to call our own and hope no one would make us move. We got some free chips and a poster before the game too! Love me some free stuff! The stadium was packed by the time the game started. It was West Indies versus Australia. There were these weird dancers that danced every time something good happened and this fire that came up. Kyron eventually got there and the people around us were explaining the game of cricket to us. It was pretty cool after you actually understand it. The game wasn’t the most exciting part though. The people in our section had to be the craziest ones there. The game was all about drinking and having fun. People were buying beer and stuff everywhere and just chugging them when people started yelling “Skull! Skull! Skull!”, which was like “Take it to the skull!” People were also getting thrown out right and left, for fighting, being too drunk, and also some we didn’t even know why they were thrown out. There was

 this guy beside Mandy who was what they would call Bogan, which is Australian white trash. He was drinking some kind of hard liquor too. He eventually got thrown out too though. The game was pretty cool and probably something I’ll never get to experience again! We came back to Urbanest, on a free shuttle which was great, and all hung out outside. Our friend David, who works at the front desk and is from the states, wanted to arm wrestle the girl from Tasmania, Lilo, who we’ve dubbed Tazzy. They did and, despite everyone betting against him, David won. All in all, it was a really great night. Now I just hope my housing situation clears up soon and I can officially get settled in.

                                                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                  QueensLandon

Suntrust, House Hunting, and Subs

          I woke up at 6 o’clock am and there was no answer from my mom about he wire transfer. Either she hadn’t gotten home or she just wasn’t checking Facebook. I kept going back to sleep and waking up, trying to see if she would reply, but she never did. Kyron woke me up and he was going to work.

 He wanted to make sure I went into his room so that way it wasn’t awkward for people coming in the kitchen. Totally understandable, since I’m sleeping with sheets on the couch in their common room. I had fallen back asleep and Kyron made sure I went to his room. I woke up and it was about 8 am. My mom finally answered the phone and we Skyped. It was 5 pm her time and her and my dad had just gotten home. She said she did the wire transfer, but the woman at Suntrust was a little bit iffy on it. I told her that I am going to have to call them up and let them know how much they have messed up my beginning time over here. They gave me so many different answers and were so difficult! She didn’t

know when the money would get to me and I looked in my ANZ account and there wasn’t any money yet. ANZ said it depended on the sender, for when I would get it. They are just the receiver. My mom called Suntrust and the wire office had already closed. My luck. So now I have to call Suntrust at 11:30 p.m. again. After I got all of that sorted out (not), I wrote some of my blog posts that I’ve ben slacking on and looked at some more houses. I called one house that looked great. It was the right price, right look, right location, but they wanted a female. I’ve seen that a lot. A lot of places are only looking for females. It’s so frustrating! But, I had some tea and some crackers and took a shower, and I felt a little better. I still feel a little bit under the weather in my throat and ear, but hopefully things start to turn up soon. I looked up

 the address of the place I am going to see and tried to see how I could get there. I don’t want to get lost. I found my map and left to start walking towards there. I let Kyron know that I was leaving and asked him where he was at, because I have his key to get into Urbanest and his room. He let me keep it in case I left and stuff. He was at Queen Street Mall. He said that the traffic was pretty bad because it was during the peak hours here when he got of work. He has a paid internship in a suburb called Indooroopilly at Triple-P America. I was hoping to try and find an internship somewhere here for a couple of weeks just for experience and such, but without a house, that might be hard. I walked close to where I knew where the house would be around, so that I will have some sort of recognition of where to go when I go to see the house.  Then Kyron said he was on his way back to Urbanest and I turned around. I told

Kyron about all my troubles I’ve been having with the money and stuff and we went to get Subway. Instead of $5 foot longs, there are $7 foot longs. Seems a little crazy right? There are also Subways like everywhere around here! They are literally on every corner from what I’ve seen so far. I’m saving half my sub for tomorrow so that I can eat it before I leave to go see the house. Eating that sub sure did make me miss Beezers though. I would love some turkey, alfalfa sprouts, oil, and vinegar. YUM! But, Beezers will have to wait. Me and Kyron hung out for a little bit. We had a hard time putting pictures from my computer onto his, but we finally figured it out. I didn't call Suntrust at 11:30 pm because I couldn't get the Gmail thing to work. I would just wait until the morning to see what my mom said and if the money was in there. 

                                                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                  QueensLandon

Accommodation, Lizards, and Chocolate

          I woke up a little bit earlier, not because my body made me, but because I had to. I had to confirm the appointment to see the room I am trying to get. I didn’t Skype my parents or anything. I’ll

still keep in touch, it just doesn’t have to be everyday. A little later, the people from the apartment called and said that they had to cancel because they guy who was showing it was sick. I would have to do it Wednesday at 3:45. I really wish I could have seen it! I want to get settled in and everything. Since that messed up my plans for the day, Kyron, Mandy, and I went to QUT Accommodation Services to try and find me help. There were a lot of people there. Kyron and Mandy left me there to search and I stayed there until they closed. I was

 looking at houses everywhere and the people there were really helpful and nice. I was kind of doing what I already had been doing, but got to ask questions. I left when they closed and walked to Queen Street Mall. I found my way there with some helpful directions from Kyron and Mandy. I don’t know when I am going to get used to this. Especially without a smart phone where I can just look it up. Mandy had already left to go to where we were eating at, but Kyron was there and me and him went to Target and some other places. He said he couldn’t really do much shopping because he likes to shop by himself. Haha. We took the bus back to South Bank and met Mandy at the pizza place. We came back to the same one, Amici’s, because they had told us that on Mondays it was $5 pizza night when you buy a drink! A pretty good deal! Mandy and Kyron had met some people while I was at QUT and they

came and ate with us. Emily came too. There were some Aussies and some people from the UK too. There was this girl from Tasmania and also this girl form Norway. All of them were very nice. The girl from Tasmania, Lilo, really liked my accent and said, “I just want to give you a story and let you read it!” Haha. While we were eating, more wildlife came around. This time it was big lizards. They are apparently like our lizards, but we don’t have any nearly as big as these! They are the kind you like see in the zoo and they were just running around everywhere! I felt like my nose was going to bleed again, but caught it early this time. I just don’t understand. We went to that chocolate shop again with Lilo and the girl form Norway, and this time I got a salted caramel milkshake. It was really good. Not cheap though.

 We all walked back to Urbanest and watched some Youtube videos downstairs. People needed Ibuprofen, so I’m glad I brought some. Kyron stayed up in his room and I joined him shortly because my ear started hurting me. I can’t take any more sickness! I had an earache and it felt like an ear infection. I made my bed, but had to wait until 11:30 pm to call Suntrust to set up my wire transfer. I didn’t have any way of calling though, because I usually would use Kyron’s Gmail phone, but he was asleep. I had to try and use Skype to call the toll free number and I could barely hear the girl on the other end. She was break up very bad, but I could understand that she was saying that I couldn’t do a wire transfer over the phone. I had to have some kind of pin! Ugh! They have told me like 5 different things. She said that someone had to go into a Suntrust branch and do it. So, I tried

calling my mom and had no way of calling her either, because she was at work. I just gave in and used my cell phone to call internationally, which probably cost a fortune. I called her work and her boss was surprised to hear from me. My mom thought that she was joking when she said that it was me calling. I tried to be quick, but my mom was having a hard time making out what I was saying with the numbers and all. I set an alarm after I got off the phone, so that I could call her in my morning time, her afternoon time, to see if everything went okay.

                                                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                  QueensLandon

Wrong Way, Art, and Possums

         I slept pretty well throughout the night. I took some cold medicine before going to bed and it was nighttime, so I guess it helped some. I woke up and Skyped my parents. My sister was there this time. It was really good to see them all. Kyron went to church and some other places, while I stayed at

Urbanest and looked for more houses. I ate some crackers, which I was so glad that my mom told me to pack! Haha. I talked to Haley on Facebook messaging. ESA had gone to St. Jude’s hospital in Memphis. Haley told Allison hi for me! Haley got RM in Green Quad! I’m so excited for her! I really hope that I get the PC position in Preston!! I’m kind of worried that I haven’t heard anything back from anyone. I emailed our RHD and the woman who emailed me about offering me a position in Bates for the spring semester, and asked them if there was any communication being sent out. I really hope they email back and maybe with good news! Mandy texted me and told me to meet her and Kyron at the Queen Street Mall. I got

dressed and got on the bus. I was a little confused about the bus situation, but thought I had it all handled. Once I started seeing signs for Gold Coast and that we were going far out from the city, I knew I wasn’t going the right way! Ahhh! I was scared it would just keep going and going! I didn’t even know that there was a stop button on the bus if you need to get off at a stop. We passed like 2 stops and I just thought the bus driver didn’t stop because there was no one there. He also didn’t stop because no one had pressed the button. Haha! I had to call Kyron and ask and eventually I rode my way back into the city and met them at the Cultural Center. We rode the ferry to this area called New Farm.

 There were beautiful city views again and the bridges and everything were wonderful. I took a lot of pictures. We went to this place called Powerhouse. It is like a bar and restaurant. There was a band playing on a big stage inside that apparently was local and a big deal. They were really young and punk. There was also an art gallery that we could go into. There were pictures and photo essays about events that happened in Australia. They were like journalistic photos and such. We rode the ferry back and Emily met us at back at South Bank. She told us about her new place she got. She got the really nice one that she wanted. It wasn’t the first one we looked at that was kind of dirty. She was actually in

competition with another guy for the room, but he wasn’t a student or anything and the lady gave it to Emily and would show him another one of her rooms. We ate at this place called Amici’s. It is an Italian restaurant and we got pizzas. There was a possum near where we were eating and it climbed up these poles beside the restaurant. The servers were feeding it. Their possums aren’t nearly as ugly as ours are. They are gray and look fuzzy. Almost fuzzy enough to want to pet! Also, some thing embarrassing happened. I got a nose bleed right in the middle of the restaurant. It was outside and I went to the bathroom, but I just don’t know. My body isn’t taking this change too well. I’ve always gotten nose

bleeds since I was young, because apparently I have a blood vessel exposed or something in my nose. I hope it doesn’t happen again. We left Emily at the Ferry and Kyron and Mandy got strawberries and chocolate at this chocolate place. It looked really good, but I just can’t be spending a lot of money. We walked back to Urbanest and I went to bed early again.

                                                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                  QueensLandon