Laughing Koalas, Coles, and A-ayron's Birthday

          I slept in a little bit this morning. I was really tired and everything. I knew that I would have a long day. It felt so good to sleep in my own place. To know that I could come back there and I was sleeping in "my" room felt great! I really needed to get some food and stuff, so I texted Emily about

going to the Queen Street Mall. I got ready and met her at the ferry. We went to the mall. It wasn’t that bad looking of a day. It was actually kind of nice, with very few clouds. We went to the Reject Shop and I got a few things. I got some hangers and a trash can along with some other stuff. Emily got some stuff too. One of the things she got was detergent. When we were walking to another store, her bag broke and she had to find another one. Luckily the people in the Australian Geographic store gave her one for a small donation. That store was cool though. They had a bunch of Australian animal stuff and this koala and alligator that laughed and moved around on the floor. It was so funny. We left that store and went to the fabric store to get some stuff for the toga party. Emily and Mandy and them had gotten some stuff earlier in the week. I got some stuff. There were people everywhere getting toga stuff. Haha. I don’t know if I will look as legit as I did when we went to the ESA toga party, but it should still be fun. We left the mall for the ferry and it was raining so badly outside! The wind was whipping the rain

 sideways! Ugh. We saw this place called Irish Murphy’s and decided to go inside to see what they had there. It is like this pub place. Mandy had wanted to go there some time earlier on, but we never did. It was actually dry inside so we decided to stay a while. We looked at the menu and decided to split wedges. This has become a recurring theme. I feel like wedges, sour cream, and sweet chili is a big thing around here too. It’s really good though. Emily wanted to see if she could get a job maybe there. The waitress girl said to just bring a resume. I really want to get a job now. Now that I am paying rent and stuff it would be great to have a little extra money each week. Maybe not at that pub, but somewhere bagging groceries or something. Haha. It was not raining that much outside so we left. By the time we had gotten to the stoplight and were waiting on it to change, it had started to pour again! We finally ran to

the ferry and we were soaked! That is just my luck! Haha. We rode the ferry back to Toowong and went to Emily’s house. I left some of my stuff there because I was going to go do some grocery shopping. I left for Coles. Coles is different than our Kohl’s. Haha. Coles is a grocery store and is really big around here. They are everywhere. There is one in Toowong Village, which isn’t too far away from Emily and my house. I got a cart and walked each isle. I didn’t really know where everything was and there were so many different brands and stuff. It felt weird. I finally found most everything on my list I had made and went to the register. I wanted to spend right at a certain amount and I hit it right on the nose! So proud. These groceries should last me for a while. I had a lot of stuff to carry back. I pushed the buggy through the parking garage you have to cut through to get to Toowong Village. When I got to the end, I had to put some of the stuff in the backpack I carried with me, and the rest I carried on my arms. I got back to Emily’s and got the rest of my stuff. She has this rollie thing that you can put all your stuff in and just roll it back. She let me use it so that I could get my stuff back to my place easier. It really was easier. I felt like a Chinese lady at the flea market, but it was a lot easier than just carrying it all back by hand.

 When I got back home, I put all of my stuff away and then looked through all of my stuff I had gotten from QUT. I have a bunch of papers and magazines and pamphlets that I just stuffed in my bag and never looked at, so this was the time to look through some of it. Angie and Javier got home and I talked to them for a little bit. They had gotten the TV and some other stuff for the apartment. It is starting to feel homier. I texted Emily, because we were supposed to be going to Urbanest later. It is Aaron from Gold Coast’s birthday!!! Everyone was going out and stuff. I got ready and made a sandwich. After I ate, I left for Emily’s. We hung out at her place for a bit and then left for the ferry. We got off at the South Bank stop and walked to Urbanest. Everyone was already hanging out downstairs, so we joined in. everyone was having fun and everything. We went outside for a bit too. I met some more people. I met this girl

 from London, this girl from Holland, and some others. Before I knew it, we were leaving. We left to go to the Exchange. We all rode the bus this time, which is a lot quicker than walking. Haha. We had a lot of fun at the Exchange dancing and making Aaron have a great birthday! We left the Exchange and went across the street to the Victory. It is another club place. We were all having fun and everything, but it got really hot inside. Me and Emily went outside for some air. We were both ready to go, because we had a long walk home from the city to Toowong and Auchenflower, so we left a little early. It took a while but we finally got back to our neck of the woods. My house is before Emily’s so I told her to text me when she got home. I walked up to my place. I wish I already had the key to the door that just goes to my room. It is kind of like my own private entrance. Angie said she would get me the key soon. But I walked in the front door and laid in bed. Emily texted me when she got home. It felt great to finally have my won place to go after a night out. It felt a lot better than sleeping on a couch. Definitely.

                                                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                  QueensLandon

Keys, Quest, and Moving In

          I woke up early because I was meeting Kryon before he left for work to get his card. I didn’t sleep all that well. The sun comes up at like 5 am, so it wasn’t a good nights sleep. Kyron texted me and asked if I was up. I told him I would meet him downstairs. Angie texted me and asked if I had transferred the money yet. She wanted to tell everyone else that wanted the room that it was gone. I would have to wait until I could get to my computer and the Internet. I met Kyron downstairs and got his card so that I could get into his room. I met Emily downstairs, because she had slept at Mandy’s. She had left some stuff in Kyron’s room from the night before so we went upstairs and she got it. She left and I Skyped me mom and dad. It was still early there. Only like 5 pm. They were excited to hear that I was getting a place finally. I transferred the money and told Angie that I did after I got done talking to them. She said to meet at 10:30 to pick up the keys. I took a nap because I was really tired. After I woke up, I showered and left to go pick up the keys. I actually made it okay to the bus station and to the house. It was kind of like fate because I usually don’t have good luck with transportation. I walked from the bus stop and up the huge hill to the house. She later told me that there was an easier

 way to get to the house. There is an entrance form the main road where I don’t have to walk up that huge hill. Angie was a little late because she was getting the keys done and she said it was pretty busy at the key cutting place. She pulled into the garage and was still so nice. She really is your typical Australian. She says mate all the time! She said it in our texts and when she pulled in. Such a good greeting. “Hey there mate!” She also only had like four things in the pantry and one of them was Vegemite. I tried that like on the first day that I got here and it wasn’t that bad. It just tasted really strong like soy sauce. Angie also says “geh-redge”, instead of garage like we say it. I guess that’s how you would spell it. Angie gave me the keys and she was doing an inspection on the place. I told her that if there was anything I could do to help, I would. They are still moving in. There really isn’t a lot in the house like furniture wise. Just my room has stuff and then there are boxes everywhere. I left my place (that felt good) and walked to Emily’s house. She doesn’t live too far away! Exciting! We waited on Mandy to text us when her and some of our other friends were getting on the ferry. We were going to go to The University of Queensland to sign up for some clubs. While we were waiting, I got to see Emily’s magpies she was talking about. Magpies are a type of bird here. We don’t have them back home. They are everywhere. Apparently these come into her house and they feed them. I got to see them. That was funny. Mandy texted us and we caught the ferry to UQ. It was their Market Day,

 meaning like there are tents everywhere and you can sign up for stuff. I believe they call them “stalls” instead of tents. UQ is where I originally applied, but there were only like 2 spots and I didn’t get one. The campus is more like a real college campus back home. It is a lot like USC and historic looking and stuff. I guess it is kind of good that I didn’t get in because I can have that experience anytime at USC with the campus, but with QUT, I can’t get that kind of experience at USC. QUT is definitely a lot different. Allie from Arizona, Mark from Ireland, Mandy, Emily, and I went. We signed up for this group called Quest. It is a group where you can go on trips and get deals and discounts at certain places. It was only $5 to sign up, so I did. Even though it is a UQ club, we could sign up. There were a lot of people there! It got me excited for the year to come and all that was going to happen. We left UQ and rode the ferry to Queen Street Mall. We got Pie Face again. It really is good and on the cheaper end of things. I got a spinach roll this time. It was really good. The girls wanted to shop. Emily was going to help me move later so I stayed with them, but Mark left and went back to his place. The girls wanted shoes (surprise). Emily found her and pair and we left Allie and Mandy. We rode the ferry back to Urbanest to get my stuff to take it to my new place. I already had most of my

bags packed and stuff, so we just took them downstairs. I still hadn’t gotten my ANZ debit card or anything, so we asked David at the front desk if there was anything down there for me. It hadn’t come to Kyron’s box, so maybe it was behind the desk. He had a huge stack of mail for that day that we looked through. No luck. Then there was the return to sender box. There was a lot of mail in that too! We looked through and, thank the Lord, they were there. I had like 5 things! I guess because I had called and told them to send a second card, thinking that the first one didn’t get there. But, I got it all. We were down there for so long that Allie and Mandy made it back to Urbanest. Mandy said that she might come over later. Me and Emily walked to the bus station. I had a lot of stuff and it was hard for us to carry it all around everywhere. We rode the bus to the Cultural Center. At first, we had gone to the wrong platform. I went to the one that I had gone to before, but apparently they run at different times on different platforms. So we lugged all of my stuff up the elevator and down to the other platform. Finally, we made it to Auchenflower. We then had to take all my stuff up and down the stairs and to my place. We got it all there and Emily saw the place. She was a really big help! I don’t think that I could have done all of that without her

helping me. I unpacked most of my stuff and made a list of things that I needed to buy. I need to clean stuff and need to get some food. That way I can save some money in the eating department. Mandy texted me and said that her and Kyron were going to come over. They texted me when they got here and I met them downstairs. I took them up the easy way. Haha. I showed them the place and the big deck and everything. Kyron had seen some of it before when we saw the place the first time, but he got to see everything this time. I brought up the idea that we meet Emily in Toowong Village, a place with food and stuff close to here, to eat some dinner. We walked there and met Emily. It was the first time that we all have really been to places near where Emily, and now I, live. We looked for somewhere to eat and finally decided on eating at this Kabab shop. Once again, a Kebab is like what we call a Gyro. Mandy had a time with the Kabab guy. Haha. I don’t think she liked him too much. When we left we saw this place called the Royal Exchange. It is like a club place. There was a toga party going on there. There were people in togas everywhere. We are going to a toga party later on in the week. It is going to be epic! When we walked by, we saw Jeff. He is from South Carolina, but doesn’t go to USC. I think he goes to somewhere in Pennsylvania. Kyron and Mandy took the ferry back to Southbank, Emily walked back to her place and, I walked back to my place. It feels great that we are all officially settled down. I took a shower. It is a lot bigger than the showers at Urbanest. In the ones at Urbanest, I could turn around and turn off

the water! Angie told me that we might not get Internet for another 10 to 21 days! That is going to not be a good time. She needs Internet too because she goes to UQ. I guess it will be one less bill for a while though. It is still so weird about the Internet usage here and how they are limited to gigabytes and stuff. We are getting unlimited Internet here, so that wont be an issue. I went to sleep a little bit early, this time not with the thought of where I was going to live for the next 5 months, but of a place where I could get free Wi-Fi. 

                                                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                  QueensLandon

Air Con, The Call, and Down Under

          I woke up to it still being rainy outside. I thought Australia was going to be beautiful, and although it has been, it really hasn’t put its face on yet. There is the river cruise thing happening later on. It is through the study abroad office. I don’t think I am going to go. It is too rainy and nasty. Plus, I

don’t really want to spend the money. Angie texted me about the place and said that another person was looking at the house and that she would get back to me later on in the day. I repacked my suitcases, because they were getting a little bit out of hand. I can’t wait to not live out of suitcases and be able to have my own space. I feel bad for Kyron, because he probably feels the same way. Their internet is weird at Urbanest and they can only use like so many megabytes or whatever. Kyron and I have use up most of his, so I am trying not to use any. I’ve turned my Wi-Fi off, but its getting pretty boring, plus I can’t post anything or talk to my family all that much. I was lying on Kyron’s bed when the room started to get pretty hot. The air conditioning is pretty weird too because it will just like turn off every once in a while. But this time, it was on and open, but not moving or anything. I heard the handyman outside and I asked him what was wrong with it. He showed me that by pressing this one button, you could make it move or make it stationary. Dummy me. I called the guy from the Toowong house and he didn’t answer. I guess he is still gone. I was going to try and just see that house before Angie called about the other one. It is cheaper and still in the same area. He said that he would be on holiday the last time that I called him. They say “holiday” here instead of vacation. I did use just a little bit of Internet when I Skyped my mom and dad. My dad also called my sister while we were on there. After I was through talking to them, I turned my Wi-Fi off. There wasn’t much to do in the room and I didn’t really know where I should go or if I should even leave because I have Kyron’s card, so I did the most logical thing; I took a nap. Afterwards, I took a shower and ate the rest of my Subway sub. Then I uploaded pictures on my computer from the Gold Coast and everything. I typed up some of my blogs. The way that I’ve

 been doing it is just writing little blurbs of what I did that day in like long lists and then typing them up later and elaborating. You’re probably reading this a lot later than when it happed. (I won’t spoil the ending) I’m behind on posting on the blog because things are still a little crazy because I’m still not really settled yet. Kyron had texted me and told me to bring Mandy his umbrella. I guess she was going on the River Cruise too. I didn’t know that. I brought the umbrella down and all the people that were going on the cruise were there. I would meet them later after the cruse at the Exchange, which is the club place. That is where everyone on the cruise is going afterwards. Emily is like the only one that didn’t go on the River Cruise either. We would both just meet them at the Exchange. I went back up to Kyron’s room and I was still waiting on the call from Angie about the place. She didn’t call at 7:30 like she said she was going to, so I was really nervous. I met Emily downstairs and we hung out with Tazzy and David, the guy who works at the front desk. He is from America, but has lived like everywhere. I kept looking at my phone, waiting on the call,

until finally she did! I got up from the table and left the room. She said that they had chosen me! She said though, that the girl that looked at it had offered more for the room and if I could do that then I could get it. I did. At this point I am just ready to move in and have my own place. We talked about a few other things and then I went back to tell everyone. They were all really excited too. Angie would send me her details later that night and I would transfer the money in the morning so that I could move in right away. After hanging out some more, I went upstairs and got ready to leave. I had tried to text Kyron to see if he was going to the Exchange or not. He said at that point he didn’t know. Emily called him and he said that yeah, he would go. I had his card, so it was difficult, because he needed it to get in and I did too. If we both went out and then left, we could get in. We met them at the Exchange and everyone had had a lot of fun on the River Cruse. There were a lot of internationals there, obviously because they all went on a Study Abroad function. It was really weird, because the Study Abroad heads were drinking

 at the bar along with others. Kind of awkward. Kyron left just a little bit after we got there. He got his card, so I didn’t know really how I was going to get back into his apartment at Urbanest. The Exchange was kind of dead and the lights were too bright, but we danced a little. I was going to leave a little bit early so that I could call Kyron before he went to sleep and have him let me in, but he had texted me and told me that he was going to sleep and no one was really ready to leave. We left the Exchange and went to this place called Down Under Bar. It was kind of gross and hot and nasty, but I guess it was kind of fun. Allie from Arizona, Emily, and I all left before the others and walked back to Urbanest. I couldn’t get back into Kyron’s room and Emily couldn’t get into Mandy’s room, where she was staying the night. Emily had Mandy’s room key, but we had to wait until Mandy got back so that we could let her into her room and Emily as well. Mandy got there and we went up to her room. She was with David and since I couldn’t get into Kyron’s David offered his couch for the night. Haha. I felt really bad though, kind of like a burden. That is why I want my own place. I went to sleep. I would wake up early before Kyron goes to work and get his card from him to get back into his room. 

                                                                                                      Until next time,

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                                                  QueensLandon